MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Agricultural Fintech CropIn Receives $8m in Equity from Chiratae Venture, Gates Strategic Investment Fund to Improve Satellite Imaging, Outreach in India

Bengaluru-based agricultural technology firm CropIn recently raised USD 8 million in its Series B funding round to improve and expand usage of its mobile apps and other software for agri-business. This software processes satellite imaging to predict future crop outputs as well as offering “real time insight on standing crop[s]…based on local weather information and high-resolution satellite imagery.” The firm plans to expand its services to 7 million farmers working approximately 10 million acres of land. From its founding in 2010 through 2017, CropIn served 1.6 million people and analyzed images of 3.1 million acres of farmland in 17 countries in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.

The Series B investors are Chiratae Ventures, an India-based technology fund, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Strategic Investment Fund, a US-based impact investment vehicle. The amounts of money invested by each and the sizes of the stakes they are taking have not been disclosed. CropIn currently has raised a total of USD 11.7 million over six funding rounds, including USD 4 million in 2017 from venture capital funds BEENext of Singapore and Ankur Capital of India.

By Michelle Fleming, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

Live Mint article
https://www.livemint.com/Companies/X5TRE10YbgUlqgvhN2IDBL/CropIn-Technology-raises-8-million-from-Chiratae-Ventures.html

CropIn homepage
http://www.cropin.com

Crunchbase profile on CropIn
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/cropin-technologies

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