Gurugram-based agritech startup Krishify (for agri traders and farmers) has developed a vernacular social networking, agri trading, and knowledge-sharing platform . Last month, it crossed a GMV of Rs 300 crore.
Since his days at IIT Kharagpur, Rajesh Ranjan has been an entrepreneur. In 2014, the Bihar boy from a farming family founded Instano — a hyperlocal app similar to Dunzo that enabled users to locate and shop at nearby stores.
After MagicTiger acquired Instano in 2015, Rajesh joined the company’s product division. Later in his career, he worked for ixigo and Analytics Vidhya. “My strength was in developing digital products and identifying growth opportunities,”.
Rajesh left his job in late 2018 to create something for India’s “next generation of internet users.”
By April 2019, Rajesh had founded Krishify — a social networking, agritech, trading, and knowledge-sharing platform for farmers — with his IIT-KGP senior Avinash Kumar (Co-founder) and IIT-Delhi alumnus Manish Agrawal (Co-founder).
“The success of ShareChat gave us the validation that a new set of audience was online,” he says. “We also wanted to create value, and agriculture was close to my heart because I’m from a farming family.”
A month later, in May, the Gurugram-based agritech startup raised seed funding of $152,000 from Orios Venture Partners and Appyhigh to launch operations.
One-stop networking solution for farmers
Krishify a agritech startup connects farmers to all agri-stakeholders through a single, mobile-first, and vernacular platform, including fellow farmers, traders, distributors, farm equipment sellers, cattle doctors, and transportation service providers.
Founder and CEO Rajesh explains,
“We spent a lot of time in rural areas to understand the farmers’ pain points. Existing market players were either solving input-side or supply chain issues. We looked at the problem from the farmer’s lifecycle point-of-view. They have to deal with multiple stakeholders depending upon their changing needs. It could be related to cropping or cattle health or transportation or cash requirements.”
“Because digital penetration had already occurred, we could leverage technology to increase transparency and efficiency throughout the process, as well as connect them with the appropriate people to resolve the issue,” he explains.
The Krishify agritech app enables farmers to do a variety of things: buy and sell crops, cattle, fertilisers, seeds, tractors, and other farm equipment on a farm marketplace (Krishi Bazaar); receive soil, crop, weather, and farming advice; participate in government schemes such as the PM Kisan Yojna and other benefits; connect with cattle doctors and vets; and network and communicate with “progressive farmers” and agri experts across geographic boundaries.
Farmers looking to sell used tractors, farm equipment, or cattle can list their products on the OLX-like Kharid Bikri section for prospective buyers to discover. Advanced algorithms are used to match buyers with listings on the platform.
“The app includes flavours of LinkedIn, Facebook, and OLX. However, we are addressing a single issue of connectivity and interaction,” the founder explains.
Apart from establishing an online agricultural community, Krishify also facilitates commerce.
Any agri distributor, retailer, or wholesaler who wants to sell directly to farmers can set up their online stores using the Krishify Dukaan app. They can list everything from seeds, pesticides, fertilisers, and bio products to nursery, cattle feed, and farm machinery to sell to millions of farmers across the country.
Farmers also receive a curated and personalised information feed based on their crops, cattle, geography, or other specified needs.
Growth and business model
In about two years, Krishify has built a network of three million farmers, of which over 1.6 million are weekly active users. Since the introduction of dairy and cattle trading as categories last October, its farmer-network has more than doubled.
Rajesh says,
“With the introduction of cattle trading, the farmer has more reasons to download the Krishify app. Vets have their own vested interest in helping local farmers out with cattle health issues. Retailers and sellers also have their own vested interests. We are driving interactions between the right set of people.”
Since the pandemic, the startup claims that all of its verticals have grown at a 40% month-over-month rate. The platform generated a GMV of Rs 300 crore in May 2021. It aims to reach 10 million users and a gross merchandise value of $300-400 million within the next 12-18 months.
While the platform is free for farmers, Krishify monetizes it by charging a transaction fee to equipment sellers and farm input providers for each order. Additionally, it collaborates with farm finance companies that provide rural loans and insurance.
Most farmers and Agri traders come from Hindi-speaking states, but Krishify plans to add local languages like Marathi, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Bengali, and Punjabi too.
“There is a clear demand for language interfaces,” Rajesh reveals. “Most farmers are uneducated. So, we’ve also enabled voice-to-text conversion features.”
Funding and industry overview
In February 2021, Krishify raised $2.7 million in a Pre-Series A round led by impact investor Ankur Capital, existing investor Orios Venture Partners, and others. The startup is looking to close its Series A round later this year.
According to Ankur Capital,
“Krishify’s agri network not only offers the optimisations for local networks but also the potential to cross geographies allowing farmers and traders to leverage opportunities far afield. Networking coupled with commerce features offers the potential for a massive scale for this ecosystem.”
Rajesh says there are over 500 million farmers and agri ecosystem players in India. “At least 20 percent of that should be active on our platform in 3-4 years.”
Add to that, 60 percent of India’s population is dependent on agriculture, according to IBEF. However, most of the agri trade is unorganised and non-transparent.
Krishify, along with peers such as AgriBazaar, MeraKisan, CroFarm, KrishiHub, DeHaat, Bijak, and SatSure, among others, are resolving various pieces of the puzzle. Their ultimate goal is to eliminate middlemen and efficiently, locally, and cost-effectively solve problems in the agri value chain.
Rajesh concludes by stating, “Understanding farmers holistically is critical at the moment.” Our approach is a combination of community and technology. Our USP is user retention; the majority of farmers will become lifetime customers. We are establishing a highly targeted and efficient gateway to the farming community.”
