India’s integrated grain commerce platform, Arya.Ag raises US $60 Million in Series C

MUMBAI, 28 January 2022: Arya, India’s largest integrated grain commerce platform has announced the close of its Series C round, having raised USD 60 million in a mix of equity and debt.

The equity round was led by Asia Impact SA, Lightrock India and Quona Capital. The agritech platform also raised debt financing from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) among others.

Arya.ag connects sellers and buyers of agriproduce, providing complete assurance on quantity, quality and payments. The platform eliminates distress sales of farmers’ produce by enabling farmgate storage and seamless finance options, offering farmers the freedom of when and whom to sell to.

With visibility into over 10,000 commodity storage points across the country, Arya assures year-round supply to SME and corporate buyers with embedded financing options.

Speaking on this, Chattanathan Devarajan, Arya’s co-founder, said, “We have visibility on grains worth over  US $2 billion on the Arya platform, and this number is growing rapidly as we gather data from warehouses around the country. This funding round will help us gain market share for our core offerings and add more services to consolidate our position as India’s most trusted platform in agriculture. We believe that these partnerships, old and new, are an endorsement of Arya’s strength to drive penetration and lead transformation within the sector.”

“Through the pandemic, we have seen Arya transform agri-commerce across India,” Matteo Pusineri, director of Asia Impact SA said.

“Arya will help accomplish Asia Impact's vision to integrate rural under-served farming communities across Asia to markets at scale. We are confident that Arya, under the leadership of Prasanna Rao, Anand Chandra and Chattanathan Devarajan, will greatly contribute to a unique ecosystem supporting the sustainable growth story of rural India,” Pusineri stressed.

Vaidhehi Ravindran, partner at Lightrock India said, “They have built a strong and profitable foundation over the last few years, and with the addition of the marketplace are in a period of accelerated growth and impact. With a team that is a great combination of innovation meets prudent risk management, we are confident that Arya will transform the grain markets as a whole.”

 “Arya’s unparalleled reach across rural India, coupled with its tech-driven integrated service model, has made it one of the fastest-growing agri-commerce platforms in India. Arya is successfully bridging the trust gap in post-harvest agri transactions through complete transparency and assurance on quality, quantity and payments. We are excited to deepen our partnership with Arya,” Varun Malhotra, partner at Quona Capital said.

The founders of Arya—Chattanathan Devarajan, Prasanna Rao and Anand Chandra—have decades of experience in agri-business and agri-finance. Under their leadership, Arya has worked towards the creation of trust, efficient networks, and enduring value for players across the value chain including small-holder farmers, FPOs, small aggregators, and agribusiness corporations. With an established product-market fit with differentiated efficiencies, proven scale, and profitability managing over 3 million metric tons across 21 states, the company has created a strong foundation while building viable options for enhancing the market power of smallholders and their organizations. Arya intends to use the funding to capture 20%+ of the USD 100 billion grain commerce market.

Asia Impact SA was advised by Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co with a team led by Manav Nagaraj and KS Bhargava. Setuka Partners was the advisor on debt finance from US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).