Aqgromalin raises USD 5.25m to resolve animal protein supply chain issues

TAMIL NADU, 1 February 2022: Aqgromalin, an agritech startup focused on animal husbandry and aquaculture, raised USD 5.25 million in funding in a round led by Sequoia India's Surge, Omnivore Partners India, and Zephyr Peacock India.

In 2020, Bharani CL founded a startup called Aqgromalin to build a full-stack agritech platform for farmers looking to diversify into animal husbandry and aquaculture. The system promises a data-driven, traceable supply chain for poultry, seafood, and livestock for farmers, butchers, meat companies, and exporters.

The startup plans to deploy the funds towards strengthening its market expansion, farmer base, technology and product development. It is also part of Sequoia Capital India’s Surge’s 6th cohort.

According to the Chennai-based startups, it has recorded a 10x growth in revenue over the last six months and has onboarded a total of over 300,000 farmers and entrepreneurs on its platform.

“Animal Husbandry and Aquaculture are highly fragmented and underserved sectors in the Indian agricultural landscape. As part of the fund acquisition, we look forward to expanding our operations and helping farmers overcome the challenges of limited availability of quality live inputs and lack of access to markets,” said Bharani CL, cofounder of Aqgromalin.

The Indian market for animal husbandry was valued at INR 93,000 Cr in 2020 and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.6 percent during 2021 and 2026 to reach INR 1,28,017 Cr by the end of the forecast period.

This figure includes the breeding and raising of livestock and the revenues received from the sale of broiler meat, eggs, buffalo meat, sheep/goat meat, pig meat, wool, animal skin etc. On the other hand, the aquaculture industry is the business of farming aquatic organisms in both inland waters and marine areas.

The Indian aquaculture industry had revenues totalling USD 15.4bn in 2020, representing a growth at a CAGR of 10 percent between 2016 and then. Industry production volumes increased with a CAGR of 8.1 percent during the same period to reach a total of 7,788.7 thousand tonnes in 2020.

WayCool, a fresh produce distribution startup, raised USD 117m in its Series D funding round earlier this month, surpassing DeHaat's USD 115m Series D funding round to become India's largest agritech funding round.

Image credit: fao.org