[Funding] CropIn raises US$20 Million in Series C funding round led by ABC World Asia

CropIn is a global AI and data-led agri-tech that empowers stakeholders to reimagine agriculture with data. The startup has raised US$20 million in a Series C funding round led by ABC World Asia. Existing investors Chiratae Ventures, Invested Development and Ankur Capital also participated in this funding round. Other new investors in this round include CDC Group and Kris Gopalakrishnan’s family office Pratithi Investment Trust.

With this capital, CropIn aims to focus on its global expansion. It further aims to strengthen its AI capabilities and penetrate deeper in its target markets. Recently, CropIn opened an Amsterdam office and will be hiring local leaders to drive growth in the European market.

About CropIn

CropIn’s data-driven farming solutions enable agri-enterprises and growers to ‘maximize per-acre value’. It also has a farm data and agronomy management platform, SmartFarm. SmartFarm helps stakeholders to improve efficiency, productivity, predictability, and sustainability of their crop value-chains. It also enables agri-enterprises to adhere to food safety standards thereby ensuring farm-to-fork traceability.

The platform helps growers adopt sustainable farming practices to build long term economic viability and resiliency for local farming communities. CropIn has also partnered with several global players in agriculture, including development finance institutions and government entities in 52 countries, to drive their digital and sustainability goals.

Existing investors of CropIn include BeeNext and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Strategic Investment Fund (London and Seattle). Over the last year, CropIn has established an advisory board comprising Barrett Mooney (Chairman of Board at AgEagle), Ranveer Chandra (Chief Scientist at Microsoft), TVG Krishnamurthy (Member of the Board of Directors at Ola), and Dr Iya Khalil (Global Head of the AI Innovation Center at Novartis).

From the leaders

“The robust, predictive power of digitalisation offers tremendous potential for the agriculture industry to leapfrog its many challenges in the coming years. The industry is capturing more data than ever, on everything from agronomy, weather and logistics to market price volatility, which has helped reduce acute data gaps throughout the value chain. To improve yields, optimise production and improve resilience and sustainability, agri-businesses are increasingly relying on innovative agri-tech solutions like artificial intelligence, data analytics, and the internet of things. We, at CropIn, are excited to advance the ‘AI-Culture’ for Agriculture,” says Krishna Kumar, Founder and CEO of CropIn.

“Sustainable food and agriculture is a core investment theme for ABC World Asia. The agriculture industry is an important pillar of the global economy, in particular, driving Asia’s growth and feeding the region’s rapidly increasing population. The industry now faces challenges more pronounced than before, with the COVID-19 global pandemic highlighting the vulnerability of global food supplies and impacting the livelihoods of many smallholder farmers. CropIn’s digital solutions will enable farmers to utilize real-time data for better decision-making and improved farm productivity. This investment underscores our support of such smart and sustainable agri-tech solutions. They can build resilience in agriculture,” said David Heng, Founder and CEO of ABC World Asia. Ms Sugandhi Matta, Managing Director of ABC World Asia, will also join CropIn as a board member.