Startup Circle: How is Hosachiguru enabling "farms-as-a-service" model in the agritech space?

Hosachiguru is a Bengaluru based agriculture asset management startup that helps buyers own and manage well-curated farmlands for long term wealth benefits. Founded by Srinath Setty, Ashok J and Sriram Chitlur in 2014, Hosachiguru helps people buy agricultural land, manage it end to end through their farm-as-a-service model and earn long term wealth benefits through the produce. The idea for Hosachiguru started way back in 2008, founded on the idea of creating a lifestyle business for the founders, Sriram and Ashok, who were later joined by Srinath.

Leaving their high paying IT jobs, the pair dove into creating a service industry in the agricultural sector. The idea was to make investing in agricultural land financially attractive while also choosing to live a greener life and giving back to nature. The pioneers of the ‘Managed’ farmlands concept, their vision is to fulfil the dreams of a green enthusiast in owning a managed farm that is secure, tech-enabled, sustainable and rewarding. Initially, they began with 1-2 projects and realized that there was a large unrealized demand for farmland ownership and agricultural services.

Excerpts of QnA with Srinath Setty, Co-Founder, Hosachiguru.

How does the technology work for farming?

At Hosachiguru we combine the Internet of Things (IoT) system with Artificial Intelligence to analyse real-time data and create prediction models for weather forecasts based on trend analysis. This allows us to prepare our farm management practices based on predicted climatic conditions. Remote equipment operated from central data centres, smartphones or wireless devices, reduce manual labour, increase efficiency and associated costs. Overall IoT and AI allow us to expedite work cycles and manage farms efficiently. Smart irrigation systems which are automated through IoT system, allows monitoring of water flows into the farm along with recharge of natural aquifers. Our sensors monitor and predict micro-climatic and soil conditions specific to each farm and we can accordingly take actions for the same.

One of the prime recent developments of Hosachiguru has been our MyFarm App. This app serves two purposes; With a display of farm assets, farm activities and weather monitoring data, it brings the experience of owning farmland to the customers’ fingertips, and besides that, it uses this same data to help the operations team on the farm conduct their activities. These precision farming-based activities are updated daily, and they also provide real-time data to customers.

How did you come up with the idea?

Hosachiguru was founded in 2014, on the idea of creating a lifestyle business for the founders Sriram & Ashok. Leaving their high paying IT jobs, the pair dove into creating a service industry in the agricultural sector. The idea was to make investing in agricultural land financially attractive while also choosing to live a greener life and giving back to nature. Srinath joined the team as the third core member, and his agricultural family background brought extensive knowledge and agricultural inputs that helped Hosachiguru projects take shape.

How scalable is your solution? And what are your post-covid plans?

Agricultural asset management is an age-old concept in India. However, it is only recently that agricultural land management is available to everyday people as a service model. What is important to note is that often people are demotivated from farmland ownership due to the high capital and maintenance costs that come with a single land-holding, not to mention know-how, access to resources, time and efforts, marketing of the produce. Hosachiguru offers an agricultural asset management model that not only manages your agricultural land but also makes you a part of a larger like-minded community of urban farmers.

From a buyers perspective, there are multiple benefits to farmland investments. In recent years the world has witnessed a massive shift towards sustainable consumerism. Investments and companies that imbibe sustainability in their operations and values appeal to a more conscious consumer. Apart from the obvious benefits of owning farmland and profits from the farm produce, Hosachiguru presents an opportunity to everyone to experience farm life and be a part of creating micro forests and improving the water table in stressed and semi-arid environments. The impact from an individual's investment allows Hosachiguru to give back not only to nature but also to support local communities and economies.

Tell us about the journey and the team at Hosachiguru.

From 2013 to 2017, Hosachiguru just worked on four projects which were more of a learning phase of the business. It was in 2017-18, that a more concrete plan on execution and scaling the business was formed. To make optimum use of the conditions and land specifications, only a select number of crops were used from thereon. This technique was coupled with a strong execution team, and resultantly the company has been growing at more than 100% YOY.

Surprisingly, we received the maximum number of enquiries for farmland investments during the pandemic in 2020 and we continue to even now. We understood that this was really a wake-up call for many who felt trapped in the city environment and yearned for a meaningful investment that had a multitude of personal, environmental and community benefits.  From the time they started in 2014, Hosachiguru had about 450 customers. But in the last 9 months alone they have added 150+ new customers. Their current customer base is 600+.

Our objective is to provide a managed farm that is Secure, Sustainable, Tech-enabled and rewarding.

What are the upcoming trends in the agritech space?

It is no breaking news that AI is the future of technology. Despite this, we also have to acknowledge that India’s vast agrarian economy has been practising traditional farming methods for centuries and today, most farmers' landholdings are too small to bear the capital costs of mechanization and IOT infrastructure set-up. Increasing investments in agri-projects have propelled management of farming operations through technology such as IoT and field sensors. It has become increasingly evident that technology in the realm of agriculture isn’t just a facilitator, but a necessity when it comes to large-scale farmlands. Having said that we need to carefully ensure the sustainability of soil, water and practices to ensure that we nurture our earth.

How do you raise awareness about your product?

We raise awareness about Hosachiguru’s offerings through regular workshops and webinars on the benefits of investing in managed farmlands. We get a lot of leads through our current customers and environment enthusiasts as well. In addition, we invest in content-based marketing activities to build awareness about farmland ownership, its challenges, benefits and guides urban people wanting to invest in farmland.

What are your plans?

A majority of our farms are located at the Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh Border. This year we will be launching some exciting projects expanding into more prime areas in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. With the Land Reforms Act, 2020 now permitting anyone to own agricultural land, the market has never been bigger for us and we plan to serve this to the best of our ability.

Presently we are working on several new and exciting projects at Hosachiguru. Our team is continuously expanding. Our environment and tech teams have just launched the MyFarm App by Hosachiguru exclusively available to Hosachiguru customers. MyFarm App allows our customers to receive real-time farm updates, monitor and interact with their farms. We are soon to launch version 3.0 shortly with new features. Our farms are also smart farms that are supported by sensors and IoT devices that allow us to precisely plan our operations and conserve resources.

We are continuously innovating with satellite remote sensing and AI models for the agricultural sector. Monitoring agricultural systems in their natural environment also allow us to simulate and understand the complex relationships between different elements in the ecosystem. At Hosachiguru, we recognize the value of conserving and enhancing natural ecosystems. We aim to use precision agriculture to make educated decisions, supported by scientific research that is mutually beneficial for our customers and the environment alike.

We also intend to start the farm to fork model for fresh veggies and greens from the farms that will be closer to Bangalore

Funding

Hosachiguru has raised an undisclosed amount from an Angel investor about 4 years ago by Venkat Narayan, CEO at Prestige Group. The company currently has 20 sustainable projects with 1000+ acres of land under cultivation.