Agri start-up Arya has raised $21 million for digital post-harvest solutions

In B series equity and debt financing, Agri-tech start-up Arya has raised $21 million (~154 crores). Along with existing shareholders LGT Lightstone Aspada and Omnivore, Quona Capital led the equity round, an investment firm focusing on fintech in emerging markets, the company stated.

Multiple investors took part in supporting the organisation with additional debt funding. The new funding will be used by Arya’s integrated fintech arm, Aryadhan, to extend farmers’ funding and to improve its digital post-harvest solutions and market ties network, a2zgodaam.com.

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Arya offers digital storage, processing, financing and market connection services, with producers, farmer producer organisations (FPOs), financial firms, Small and medium – sized agri processors, commodity dealers and private agri-businesses as its customers.

Arya believes that through village-level product storage, integrated financing, and market linkage services, it helps farmers understand better value for their produce to create better opportunities for sales of commodities.

Of the USD 130 billion yearly produced agricultural commodities produced by India, there are big losses in primary and secondary markets due to inadequate of storage, compelling farmers to sell off-cycle for poor margins, said Prasanna Rao, co-founder and CEO of Arya. These same farmers rely on funding for their working capital needs, but are vastly underserved, hurting their ability to store and optimal way market their produce. In order to help small – scale farmers flourish, Arya’s digital solution integrates warehousing with financing and vital market linking services.

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Ganesh Rengaswamy, co-founder and partner at Quona Capital, said, “Arya addresses a widely untapped market of farmers in India, half of whom traditionally had so little access to post-harvest credit.” “We believe that the unique approach of Arya, which provides a full-service digital platform with integrated finance and differentiated efficiency gains for small – scale farmers, will drive India’s farming future.”

Varun Malhotra, Principal at Quona Capital, will join Arya’s Board as part of the investment. The exclusive advisor on the offer was the investment firm IndigoEdge.