Agritech firm Unnati Agri has seen a remarkable growth in the past two fiscal years as reflected by its scale that shot up over 7x: Rs 398 crore in FY23 from Rs 54.5 crore in FY21.
Founded in 2017 by former Paytm Mall chief operating officer Amit Sinha and Ashok Prasad, Unnati Agri describes itself as a ‘fintech-based agri platform’. Its services include pre and post-harvest services, and working creditline, among others. Farmers can also purchase agricultural supplies on Unnati, and sell their produce directly to connected food processors and agribusinesses.
The sale of agri inputs [inventory-led] contributed Rs 394.16 crore to revenue during FY23 while its marketplace income stood at Rs 3.84 crore. According to the company, its gross merchandise value (GMV) stood at Rs 580 crore [inventory + marketplace] during the last year.
The cost of procurement accounted for 90.5% of the total expenditure, Sinha said in an interaction with Entrackr. This cost grew 2.57X to Rs 371 crore whereas its expenditure on employee benefits increased 44.6% to Rs 12 crore during the last fiscal year, he added.
The company spent another Rs 12 crore and Rs 1.4 crore on transportation and advertisements, respectively, which pushed Unnati’s overall expenditure 2.4X to Rs 410 crore in FY23 from Rs 168 crore in FY22.
Sinha outlined that Unnati Agri has managed to control expenses and its losses grew only 29% to Rs 12 crore in the previous fiscal year.
Unnati Agri raised $8 million in its series A round led by Incofin Investment Management, NabVentures, and Orios in November 2021. According to Sinha, the company has projected revenue of over Rs 1,000 crore in FY24,” he said.
It’s worth noting that the company is yet to file audited financial numbers with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
Unnati competes with B2B marketplace and retail platform Jumbotail which neared Rs 380 crore in revenue with a GMV of Rs 1,100 crore during FY22 and HeroMotoCorp-backed AgroStar which crossed Rs 250 crore in revenue with a loss of Rs 142 crore in FY22.
