The agriculture warehousing service startup Arya said that it has raised $6 million in pre-Series B funding which was led by Omnivore and its existing investor LGT Lightstone Aspada. The Noida-based firm is looking to launch their Series B fundraising round by mid-2020, said a senior executive.
Arya deals in post-harvest services across the agricultural value chain, including warehousing, warehouse receipt financing, rural storage discovery, collateral management and market linkages.
The company had conducted Series A round way back in December 2016 in which LGT Lightstone Aspada had invested. According to company officials, the new funds will be use to accelerate the growth of agri-storage network, build book in warehouse receipt financing, and lay the foundations of a pan-India agri warehousing marketplace .
“Arya's warehousing model profitably serves the agri storage and financing needs of smallholders, FPOs, and corporations in the smaller rural markets. We are delighted to have Omnivore join our investor group alongside LGT Lightstone Aspada. With their experience supporting technology driven innovation in agriculture, Omnivore's coming on board will strengthen our next generation work to further improve efficiencies in the post-harvest ecosystem,” said Prasanna Rao, Co-Founder & CEO of Arya.
Arya said that it has been working with farmers, farmer producer organisations (FPOs), financial institutions, SME agri processors, commodity traders and corporate agribusinesses. The company claimed that it provide bundled warehousing and warehouse receipt financing solutions for smallholder farmers and FPOs in rural India.
The company informed that until 2013, it was part of the JM Baxi Group. That year, Prasanna Rao and Anand Chandra acquired a controlling stake in the firm. Prasanna had previously been the head of Agri Commodity Finance at ICICI Bank, while Anand was previously ICICI Bank's National Product Head for Agri Commodity Finance. More recently, they were joined by Chattanathan D, the former Group Product Head of the Rural and Inclusive Banking Group at ICICI Bank.
