AI-focused ag tech startup Intello Labs has raised Rs 37.3 crore or $ 5 million in a round led by Avaana Capital, bringing the company’s valuation to around Rs 246 crore or close to $ 34 million, depending on Fintrackr estimates.
The round also featured the participation of existing backers Saama Capital along with Nexus Ventures and Omnivore Partners.
Avaana Capital contributed Rs 18.62 crore, while Omnivore Partners, Saama Capital and Nexus Ventures invested Rs 6.2 crore each in the round. The company has also allocated 7,706 Series A3 preferred shares and 15 capital shares at Rs 47,247 per share, regulatory documents show.
According to Fintrackr’s calculations, the promoters’ stakes in the company have been diluted from 21.74% to 18.44% after the new round of financing.
Omnivore Partners is Intello Labs’ largest shareholder with a 19.15% stake, followed by Nexus Ventures, which owns 18.13%. Saama Capital and Avaana have a 15.21% and 7.58% stake, respectively. Co-founders Milan Sharma and Nishant Mishra each own an 8.4% stake, while the third co-founder, Himani Shah, retains only 1.37% stake after this round.
Based on its regulatory filings, the company has also passed a special resolution in its memorandum of association that says it will carry out the business of trading, assembling, reassembling, packing, purchasing, leasing, renting all kinds of hardware, used machines. to pack and sort various products using AI, in India and abroad.
As of May of last year, the company had raised $ 5.9 million in its series A funding round led by Saama Capital.
Business model and competitors
Started in 2016, Intello Labs implements tools based on image recognition for the evaluation of the quality of fruits and vegetables. It also manufactures an automated weighing and packaging machine for fresh produce.
It is very similar to the offerings of agrotechnology startup AgNext, which provides AI-based solutions to enable commerce at every intersection of buying and selling that occurs in the agricultural and food value chains. AgNext has built proprietary hardware, algorithms and software to analyze the quality of commodities in multiple domains such as spices, tea, grains, oilseeds, milk, feed, among others.
A quick focus on agrotech startups
Last month, TartanSense, an AI-powered robotic solutions provider empowering small farmers, raised $ 5 million in its Series A round. AgNext also raised just over $ 21 million led by Falcon’s Alpha Wave Incubation. Edge. Entrackr had reported exclusively on the round. It was also selected by Google for its fifth batch of the startup acceleration program in India.
Around 30 startups in the agrotech space had raised funds in 2020 and the trend continues into the current calendar year, in which DeHaat, Vegrow, Waycool and Ninjacart have already started their new rounds.
According to a recent media report, DeHaat is in talks to raise $ 100 million in what could be one of the largest funding rounds for an agrotech startup in India. Those are very good numbers, considering how controlled India’s agricultural sector is and the long gestation that any agricultural startup needs due to the nature of the sector.
