Agri-tech startup Farmcrowdy has successfully managed to raise an additional $1 million in funding. Funds that will go a long way in the Nigeria-based startup to broaden its offering.
Founded in 2016, the startup endeavors to connect smallholder farmers across Nigeria with financing from individuals and corporates. The matching of a small-holder farmer and a financier takes place via an online platform.
Farmcrowdy prides itself of having financed at least 12,000 farmers across 14 states in Nigeria. The startup first made international headlines in December 2017 after closing a $1 million seed funding round.
This latest and additional $1 million seed funding round roped in international investors like Techstars and Cox Enterprises. There were some local investors as well, such as Ajayi Solutions.
Farmcrowdy, with two $1 million funding round each, is gearing up for Series A funding round. The startup will use the monies in building up its platform and expand its services to at least 50% of the entire 36 states in Nigeria within the next year.
The startup has also announced the new Farmcrowdy Group. A vehicle it will use to support its mandate of building up agri-tech capacity within Nigeria and Africa at large. Hence creating food security.
“Today’s announcement of this additional funding marks another milestone for us as we amplify our presence in the country and explore new opportunities. We are delving into the possibility of utilizing drone services for field analysis, improving our farmers yield with additional research and 3D mapping, as well as entering into formidable strategic partnerships that will grow the impact of our work.
We’re continually grateful that we have a group of investors who share and support our vision as much as we do. It is a great source of motivation for the entire team as we look to the next phase of growth as a company.” – said Onyeka Akumah, the founder and CEO of Farmcrowdy.
According to Cody Simms, a partner at Techstars, which gave another cheque to Farmcrowdy’s second round of $1 million funding said they (as VCs) were very impressed by the startup’s mission. A mission they say has the potential of ending poverty across Africa; one farmer at a time.
“We are excited about the continued growth of the Farmcrowdy platform and thrilled to continue our support of the business with the most recent financing,” said Simms.
The startup has also launched the Farmcrowdy TFS App. An app designed to provide better profiling of the farmers and managing the inventory. The app will also help in data collection and analysis of the farmers enlisted in the program.