“Market Ready & Investment Ready” Agri Startup Pitch at Demo Day Organized By a-idea- NAARM

A Demo Day, to mark the culmination of the fifth edition of Agriudaan, a Food & Agribusiness Accelerator program, was held on Friday in Hyderabad. Fourteen startups from agriculture and allied sectors got to pitch and network with marquee investors. The event organized by a-IDEA (Association for Innovation Development of Entrepreneurship in Agriculture), a Technology Business Incubator(TBI) hosted by ICAR-National Academy, was attended by several prominent guests, including Dr G. Venkateshwarlu, Joint Director of ICAR-NAARM, highlighted the contributions of cohort partners & sponsors, including State Bank of India, over a dozen VC firms, angel investors and mentors who have made the startups “market-ready and investment ready.” The Agriudaan 5.O demo day provided a platform to agri-startups to showcase their innovative ideas and connect with potential investors. It also highlighted the importance of developing rural and grassroots innovation to address the challenges faced by farmers in India. The event featured pitches from startups working in rural innovations, drone tech, IoT, beekeeping, and advanced domains such as precision farming, smart farming etc. Some of the prominent startups that took part in the event are AgriVijay, Marut Dronetech, Univia, Bee Basket, Attaware Biodegradable, Organikness, Anitra Tech, Inav Agro Mech, Bhojpatta Agripreneur, Jivanath platform services, Contrivation Labs, CisGEN Biotech Discoveries, Agriotics Technologies, and Auspice Condiments India. These startups presented their innovative ideas aimed at addressing the challenges faced by farmers in India. In addition, the event provided a one-on-one networking opportunity for startup founders. Mrs Susheela Chintala, Chief General Manager of NABARD, TSRO, and Mr. Shantharam Pai, General Manager of the Agri-Business Unit of State Bank of India, were some of the guests of honour. Chintala highlighted that startups should work toward building “value chain development” in financing agriculture and commodities as it “is the future.” Furthermore, she called on the founders to “work in convergence instead of in isolation” with stakeholders, such as agriculture universities, given their resources. Mr Pai stressed that it was the responsibility of individuals, organisations and institutions associated with agriculture to feed India’s population and that SBI has over 130 agri-loan products to address the needs of small to mega-corporations. Dr Ch. In his address, Srinivasa Rao, Director of ICAR-NAARM, underscored his organisation’s work in localisation end-to-end mentoring for startups through a partnership with 113 ICAR institutes nationwide. According to Dr Sentil, the 14 startups present at the Demo Day were selected through a nationwide selection process facilitated by various stakeholders from a total of 147 that had applied for the cohort. Caspian Impact Investments provided feedback to the investors. The demo day concluded with a closing address by Dr. N. A. Vijay Avinashi lingam, Additional CEO of a-IDEA and Principal Scientist of ICAR-NAARM.