Exclusive: Agritech startup Bijak raises nearly $20 Mn in Series B

Agritech startup Bijak has raised Rs 144.2 crore or nearly $20 million in its Series B round from new and existing investors. The fresh funds have come after a gap of more than 20 months for the Gurguram-based startup.

Sequoia Capital India-owned Surge Ventures, Omidyar Network and others had invested $12 million in Series A round in Bijak back in April 2020. Entrackr had exclusively reported the development.

Bijak has approved the allotment of 393 equity shares and 2350 Series B preference shares to raise a total of Rs 144.2 crore or close to $20 million from five investors.

Bertelsman led the investment with Rs 98.64 crore followed by Omidyar who has put in Rs 22.8 crore. RTP Global, Surge Ventures and Better Capital have invested Rs 15.2 crore, Rs 5.7 crore and Rs 1.9 crore respectively.

As per Fintrackr’s estimates, Bijak has raised the fresh funds at a post-money valuation of Rs 1,225 crore or $163.3 million. The company was valued at around $82 million during its Series A round.

The company was reportedly in talks to raise around $35 million at $220-250 million valuation.

Launched by Nukul Upadhye, Mahesh Jakhotia, Jitender Bedwal, Daya Rai and Nikhil Tripathi, three-year-old Bijak is a B2B trade platform for the agricultural sector. The platform enables traders, wholesalers and food processors to keep a ledger of their transactions with access to transparent pricing, logistics and loans.

According to the company’s website, it has a presence in over 27 states including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar and it deals in more than 110 commodities.

Following the fresh allotment of shares, Upadhye retains 23.85% stake in Bijak followed by Jakotia who has 13.25% holding in the company. Rai and Tripathi have 5.3% stake each whereas Bedwal controls 2.64% in the company.

Surge is the largest stakeholder among investors with 13.8% stake followed by Bertelsmann and Omidyar who control 8.1% stake each in the company. The complete shareholding pattern can be seen below:

Last year, Bijak had also introduced an Employee Stock Ownership Plan worth around Rs 65 crore for its eligible employees. Entrackr had exclusively reported the development.

According to Fintrackr’s data, more than three dozen agritech startups had raised funds in 2021. Earlier this month, ​​agri-commerce company WayCool Foods had closed $117 million in Series D round, the largest for an agritech startup in India. On Thursday, another agritech startup BigHaat had raised Rs 100 crore or $13.3 million in a new round.