- Investment will help Fasal to increase its business offering which is revolutionising the way horticulture farmers source crop inputs, grow better crops and sell produce.
- Its intelligence platform has helped over 6,000 farmers use less irrigation water and pesticide whilst producing better crops, and becoming more resilient to climate change.
British International Investment, the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, announced its participation in the Series-A funding round of Fasal, India’s pioneering intelligence platform for horticulture farmers.
The INR 100 Crores funding round is led by TDK Ventures and BII, with contribution from ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, Navam Capital and Aureolis Ventures.
The investment will support Fasal on its mission to transform the $228 billion Indian horticulture industry, through its end-to-end digital platform and patented crop intelligence technology, which is revolutionising the way horticulture farmers source crop inputs, grow better crops using precision farming, and sell produce. It will also support their ambitions to expand further into South-East Asia.
Since its inception in 2018, Fasal has worked with horticulture farmers spanning more than 75,000 acres and grow crops such as grapes, pomegranates, bananas, apples, chilli, cardamom, to help them grow better and more crops with its patented technology.
Overall, Fasal farmers have reduced irrigation water consumption by 82.8 billion litres, pesticide reduction by 127,426 kg, curbed greenhouse gas emissions by 54,965 MT, and have increased their yields and quality by up to 30 per cent with the help of technology.
Fasal has gone deeper into the value chain by building technology to predict the exact harvesting time, yield, and tentative quality and is utilising this intelligence to bring sustainably grown, traceable, and high-quality produce to consumers via its B2B brand ‘Fasal Fresh’.
Srini Nagarajan, Managing Director and Head of Asia for BII, commented, “Providing climate finance is a core part of BII’s strategy in India and South-East Asia. By supporting the development of Fasal’s climate-smart solutions which is taking the guesswork out of farming, we will be able to reach more smallholder horticulture farmers, helping them become more resilient to the impact of climate change. We are particularly impressed by how Fasal has contributed to water conservation and greenhouse gasses reduction, as this will ultimately help achieve our planet’s sustainability goals.”
Shailendra Tiwari, Founder/CEO of Fasal, mentioned “We are delighted to welcome our new investors to the Fasal family, with TDK Ventures and British International Investments co-leading this round. With this capital infusion, we plan to expand Fasal’s presence from 75,000 acres to 500,000 acres and enable our technology to deliver more to our farmers by providing them access to sustainable crop inputs, farm-level crop insurance, and working capital at lower interest rates.
“In the race towards global food system resilience, we acknowledge our responsibility, and drawing confidence from our successful track record in India, we are excited to play a pivotal role in it.”
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Notes to editors
Media contact
British International Investment: Nia Tam | press@bii.co.uk
