Agri-Startup in India

1. Agri Start-up
Presented by : Sahil Swangla
M.Sc. (1st year)
Division of Agricultural Extension
ICAR- Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi - 110012

2. Outline of the Presentation
Introduction
Incubators
Phases of Startup
Need of Agri-Startup
Challenges
Strength
Applications
Role of IARI
Case Studies
Ph.D. Thesis
Current Scenario
Government Support
Recommendation

3. Introduction
• A start up is a company that is just beginning to develop
• Generally small
• Initially financed and operated by a handful of founders
or one individual
• They offer products and services that is not currently
being offered elsewhere in the market, or that the
founders believe is being offered in an inferior manner

4. In the beginning, expenses are more than the
revenues

5. • Because of more expense, they require financing
• They can be funded from different sources

7. Incubators
• A firm engaged in the business of fostering early-stage
companies through the developmental phases until such
time as the company has sufficient financial, human and
physical resources to function on its own.
• It can either be a non-profit or a for-profit entity

8. Incubators can provide assistance
via
1. access to financial capital through relationships with
financial partners
2. access to experienced business consultants and
management-level executives
3. access to physical location space and business
hardware or software
4. access to informational and research resources via
relationships with local universities and government
entities.

9. • A startup that can prove its potential may be able to
attract venture capital financing in exchange
for giving up some control and a percentage of
company ownership.

10. A New Definition in India
• As per GSR 180 (E) - an entity shall be considered as a ‘startup’-
a) Up to five years from the date of its incorporation/ registration
b) If its turnover for any of the financial years has not exceeded
Rupees 25 crores
c) It is working towards innovation, development, deployment or
commercialization of new products, processes or services driven
by technology or intellectual property
Source: Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and

11. Agri Startup
Start up in the field of Agriculture is called as Agri
Startup

12. NEED OF AGRI-STARTUPS
India’s biggest employer- Agriculture

13. Need of Agri Startup
• Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy
• Agriculture is India’s biggest employer
• Huge employment opportunities for the farmers’ and agricultural
graduates
• Everyone needs food, that means depending on the kind of
Startup, it can have a large number of clients and customers
• Can promote rural welfare
• Will surely help in faster growth of Agriculture sector in India

14. PHASES OF A START-UP
From idea to phases and team to organization

15. Phase 1 - Ideating
• Entrepreneurial ambition and/or potential scalable
product or service idea for a big enough target market.
• Initial idea on how it would create value
• One person or a vague team; no confirmed commitment
or no right balance of skills in the team structure yet

16. Phase 2 - Concepting
• Defining mission and vision with initial strategy and
key milestones for next few years on how to get there.
• Two or three entrepreneurial core co-founders with
complementary skills and ownership plan.
• Maybe additional team members for specific roles also
with ownership

17. Phase 3 - Committing
• Committed, skills balanced co-founding team with
shared vision, values and attitude.
• Able to develop the initial product or service version, with
committed resources, or already have initial product or
service in place.

18. Phase 4 - Validating
• Testing assumptions for validated solution to
demonstrate initial user growth and/or revenue.
• Initial Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) identified
• Can start to attract additional resources (money or
work equity) via investments or loans for equity

19. Phase 5 - Scaling
• Focus on KPI based measurable growth in users,
customers and revenues and/or market traction & market
share in a big or fast growing target market.
• Can and want to grow fast. Consider or have attracted
significant funding or would be able to do so if wanted.
• Hiring, improving quality and implementing processes

20. Phase 6 - Establishing
• Achieved great growth, that can be expected to
continue. Easily attract financial and people resources.
Depending on vision, mission and commitments, will
continue to grow and often tries to culturally continue
like a startup
• Founders and /or investors make exit(s) or continue
with the company

21. Ideating Concepting Committing Validating Scaling Establishing

22. • This simplified framework describing Phases of a Startup
can help both the startup entrepreneurs and those
supporting them in communicating much faster about
startups current development stage and about what
support is available or actions needed to get to the next
stage

23. CHALLENGES IN AGRI-
STARTUPS

24. Challenges in Agri Startup
• Lack of awareness among startup about possible capital
raising options
• Lack of understanding on part of the investors community as this
sector lacks glamour quotient
• Farmers which are the main customer of startup are also
skeptical to new innovations, though things are significantly
improving
• Regulations in agricultural sector is complicated as it is a state
subject with a strong influence from the Central
government, state subject with a strong influence from the
Central government which might create confusion for various

25. Challenges in Startup
• Though there is increasing support from the government, there is
limited consistency in the policies followed which adds to the
challenges
• Today, Problem is not whether the technology is available. The
problem is whether there are India specific solutions
• Government policies for agriculture are treated as a poverty
alleviation method rather than a means to enhance productivity
and raising incomes, and this keeps entrepreneurs out
• Investors tends to view agriculture as a risky proposition

26. Challenges
• Owing to the huge productivity gaps and large market size,
agricultural start-ups have one of the biggest potential in India. But
agriculture is a multiple operations enterprise, where about 10
different operations starting from soil preparation to storage and
transport contribute to overall productivity and profit. This makes
agriculture a complex system for start-ups to target.
• So the biggest challenge for start up is to target right area of
the agricultural operations.

27. Strength
• Market size is huge and the problem faced can be solved
• If any startup can solve even few of existing problems faced
by the sector, it is possible to create multi-billion dollar
opportunities
• Agriculture sector is recession proof and can act as a
portfolio diversification from an investor perspective
• Public Private Partnership can work together which can
help in introduction of private sector technology and
innovation to the public sector dominated field

28. APPLICATION TO THE
PROBLEMS

29. Agricultural Graduates
• Linkage of Agri-Startup, Startup India and Skill India with the
Agricultural Graduates especially who are unemployed
• 13.3% Unemployment rate in 15-29 age group in 2012-13:
Survey
– (Source: Press Trust of India, Dec 1, 2013)
• More than 75 million youth in worldwide are looking for work
(According to UN International Labour Organization)
• Capacity utilization of Agricultural graduates

30. ARYA- Attracting and Retaining Youth
In Agriculture
• Youth are three times more likely to be unemployed than
adults
• Most youth find it as an unattractive profession, especially
the way it is practiced traditionally
• ARYA- Constituted by ICAR
• Aim- to suggest ways of attracting youth to agriculture
• Agri-Startup can be one of the activity that can attract the
youth and can provide them a profitable venture

31. Skill India Program
• Currently, Agri-startups are suffering with the inadequate
talent in the job market, due to which the creation and
growth of agriculture startups are facing challenges
• But these constraints can be removed with the help of
Agricultural Skill Council of India (ASCI) which is
providing ample opportunities for the individuals with
agriculture background to develop their skills as per the
competency standards and qualifications
• So, it is necessary to link them to the Skill India program

32. ROLE OF IARI IN AGRI
STARTUPS
“Arise , Launch Pad for Agri-Startups”

33. Arise – Launch Pad for Agri Startups
• Arise” is the Agribusiness Incubation program of ZTM-
BPD UNIT, IARI in association with ICAR Institutes & State
Agricultural Universities of North India.
• After the success of first edition Agri Biz Idol Camp cum
incubation Workshop in 2014, The Second edition of Arise
is an initiative in sync with the Govt. of India policy of
“Start-Up India” and “Skill India”
• Aim- to provide a platform for budding Agripreneurs to
provide innovative solutions to today’s market needs.

34. Who can Apply?
• Smart Farmers
• Youth
• Students
• Women Entrepreneurs
• Anyone interested in Agribusiness

35. What they are offering?
• Capacity building & pre-incubation support
• Technical Mentorship
• Business Mentorship
• Incubation Support
• Investors Pitch support
• Facilitation for Funding and Investments

36. Timeline for Arise Incubation Program
9th June- Event Launch
30th June- Applications Opening
4th August- Application Submission
Deadline
22nd Aug- Preliminary Selection

37. 25th Aug – 8th Sep – Pre-incubation
Mentoring
17th Sept- Final Selection Day
19th – 24th Sept – Business Incubation
Workshop
22nd December- Investors Pitch Day

38. Achievements
• 22 Business Planning and Development units (or
Agribusiness Incubators) have already established in the
ICAR & SAU institutions in the last four years
• Business Planning & Development units all over India are
currently providing incubation support to 1,218
entrepreneurs/Agri based startups, out of which 91 ventures
have successfully graduated from the incubator
(Source: NAIP, Final Report 2014)

39. PH.D. THESIS
A study of Agri-Entrepreneurship Behavior of Farmers- Dipika Hajong

40. Frequency distribution of Agri-
entrepreneur characteristics (N=20)
S. No. Entrepreneurial characteristic/
attribute
Frequency Percentage
1. Innovativeness 14 70
2. Social Network 12 60
3. Risk taking 11 55
4. Resiliency 8 40
5. Autonomy 7 35
6. Desirability of Business 7 35
7. Expected utility of Business 7 35
8. Scientific orientation 7 35
9. Manageability 7 35
10. Need for Achievement 5 25

41. S.
No.
Entrepreneurial Characteristic/
Attribute
Frequency Percentage
11. Critical Thinking 5 25
12. Persuasiveness 5 25
13. Self determination 4 20
14. Inquisitiveness 4 20
15. Sharing normative beliefs 3 15
16. Hope of success 3 15
17. Internal locus of control 2 10
18. Opportunity seeking 2 10
19. Self efficacy 2 10
20. Proactive 1 5

42. Conclusion out of the Thesis
• Innovativeness, Social Networking, Risk Taking and
Resiliency were the top four Agri-entrepreneurial
characteristics according to the research findings
• Innovativeness is necessary for the Agri-entrepreneur to
devise and adopt new methods of production, processing,
marketing and problem solving considering the socio-
economic and agro-ecological challenges of his farm and
firm

43. • Social Networking highlights that success of Agri-
enterprise is not only influenced by agro-ecological
factors, but also in activities such as organizing and
mobilizing people to solve a problem, establishing rapport
with technology developers, fellow farmers and
customers, etc
• Moderate risk taking is prerequisite to establish an
enterprise and running it
Conclusion out of the Thesis

44. • During the preliminary selection phase of the incubation
program, individuals with these Agri-entrepreneurial
characteristics can and should be selected for the
support
Or
• These characteristics can be installed upon them through
capacity building during the pre mentoring support
Conclusion out of the Thesis

45. AGRI-STARTUPS LAUNCHED
RECENTLY
Case Studies

46. Omnivore partners
• A venture fund investing in early stage agriculture and food
technology companies in India
• The firm supports entrepreneurs who are developing
solutions to improve farm productivity, increase agricultural
sustainability, modernize agri-business supply chains and
promote farm-sourced food products
• Provides risk capital to venture involving Ag-tech and food
tech solutions for India
• Also , they try to help the entrepreneurs by linking them with
various other stakeholders who provide financing to
Agripreneurs and try to increase the source of capital
available to them

47. Farming-as-a-Service
• It offers services through the entire value chain in farming-
from land preparation to crop harvesting
• They can also play an important role in financial inclusion of
farmers. They collect comprehensive information of the
farm and on the basis of that provide correct information to
banks which provide credit/loans to farmers

48. EM3 Agri Services
• Can reduce the impact of financial loss through high
productivity
• EM3- farm machinery vehicles on demand
• Pay-per-use mode
• Because most farmers cannot afford farm machinery
• Target is to reach 90 % of the farmers

49. Various other Agri-Startups
• Input
– Manish Agri Biotech, Richcrore, Sri biotech, Super
Agree Seeds, Barrix Agro Services, MITRA, Global
Easy Water Project
• IT Services
– Reuters Market Light, Basix Krishi, Mobile in Mud,
Skymet, Uniphore, Eurvaka Tech

50. Present Scenario
• Funding for Indian agricultural startups declined to $56
million in 2015 from $123 million the year before
• In 2015, also a draught year, just 20 agriculture-related
startups raised money, but $6 billion was invested overall
in tech startups that year.
• Agriculture startup attracted less than 1% of the total
Source: Tracxn, a startup activity tracking platform

51. Government Support
• Important stakeholder in agricultural ecosystem
• Farm extension services via Agricultural Universities
• NABARD, ICAR and other allied institutions can provide a
significant value addition to all the stakeholders
• Provides subsidized financing to improve the profitability of
farming sector
• Government is also supporting Private incubators in recent times
• Recent Initiatives of ‘Startup India’ and ‘Skill India’

52. Recommendations
• Many of the Agri startup are inspired by western countries with the
intention of solving the problems. But most of these people have no
idea what the problems really are. Because these ideas mostly fit
the developed countries which are non-agrarian country.
• So such startup need to be encouraged which understand the
farmers’ background and can visualize the problems from the
farmers’ point of view.
• ICAR can become a nodal agency for technology licensing for
private agriculture enterprises and Agri startups
• Agricultural Extension can play a major role in motivating and
guiding the farmers to take up new Agri-startups and transforming
their ideas into reality

53. “We have a million problems, but at the same time
we have over a billion minds that can solve these
problems”
-Narendra Modi