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[Podcast] Mark Kahn of Omnivore on the evolution and future of agritech in India Mark Kahn, Managing Partner of Omnivore, talks to Prashanth Prakash, Partner at Accel, about the evolution of agritech in India and what lies ahead. 0 claps Taking cues from a top-down structural approach, the agritech industry has many layers to it.  On top of them, however, like every other major industry, financial services is also a critical part of agritech. However, it is largely unorganised and has plenty of room for disruption. Most farmers in the country do not have access to credit-based lending facili...

Edited excerpts of the conversation  YourStory (YS): What are you looking for in startups and their teams? Mark Kahn (MK): When Omnivore assesses startups, we primarily look at the four Ts - Team, TAM (market size), Technology, and Traction. With respect to Team, the company should have founders with strong educational pedigrees and work experience, ideally in other startups. As an agritech-focused VC, we also like to see founders who have some prior exposure to agriculture.   Thankfully, the typical Omnivore founder is an engineer who grew up in rural India! Regarding TAM (total addressab...

Arya raises $21M to provide farmers in India finance and post-harvest services Only about a third of the yields Indian farmers produce reaches the big markets. Those whose produce makes it there today are able to leverage post-harvest services. Everyone else is missing out. A Noida-based startup is working with all the stakeholders — farmers, food processors, traders and financial institutions — to bridge this post-harvest services gap — and it just secured new funds to continue its journey. Seven-year-old Arya said on Tuesday it has raised $21 million in its Series B financing round. T...

Impact of COVID-19 on India's agritech sector and other key findings from an Accel-Omnivore study The agritech sector gained tremendously from the lockdown and even after it. Here are the key findings from a joint study on India's post-pandemic agri landscape by Accel Partners and Omnivore. 0 claps Like all other industries, India's agriculture sector — the biggest contributor to the nation's GDP — was faced with huge uncertainties after the coronavirus outbreak. Things worsened after the imposition of the nationwide lockdown on March 25. Food supply chains froze, farmers struggled to...