Abler Nordic, a public-private partnership whose investors include the Danish and Norwegian governments, recently led the Series B fundraising round of Indian agricultural technology (agtech) company Ergos, which offers crop storage and a digital platform linking farmers to markets. The funding round comprised USD 7 million in equity and USD 3 million in debt, with additional participation from three previous investors in Ergos, each of which is based in India: Aavishkaar Capital’s Aavishkaar Bharat Fund, Chiratae Ventures and Trifecta Capital’s Trifecta Venture Debt Fund.
Ergos CEO Kishor Jha stated, “We are building India’s first mobile GrainBank solution serving small and marginal farmers, local buyers, food processors and banks. Our fintech [financial technology] layer helps farmers to access credit through an end-to-end digital process and close their loans through selling their produce on the GrainBank mobile app.”
The GrainBank system allows farmers to exchange their crops for tradeable digital assets that they can sell up to nine months later via a mobile app – potentially for a higher price than at the time of harvest, when prices are often at their lowest. Farmers can use these digital assets as collateral to borrow 70 percent of the assets’ value from partner banks, allowing the farmers to access cash before the grain is sold to a third party.
Ergos claims it has boosted farmers’ “income by 40-50 percent in a year.” As of September 2023, 160,000 farmers use the platform, and the firm has 200 locations across the Indian states of Bihar, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Ergos was founded in 2012.
Established in 2008, Abler Nordic has USD 345 million deployed in Africa and Asia via five microfinance funds as of 2023. Its investees serve 9.6 million people, nearly all women, mostly who live in rural areas. The organization has offices in Denmark, India, Indonesia, Kenya and Norway.
By Pranav Agarwal, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
Abler Nordic press release on Ergos funding round
https://www.ablernordic.com/news/abler-nordic-invests-in-ergos/
The Economic Times article on Ergos funding round
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/funding/agritech-startup-ergos-secures-10-million-in-funding-led-by-norways-abler-nordic/articleshow/103857970.cms
Ergos homepage
https://ergos.in/
Abler Nordic homepage
https://www.ablernordic.com/
Aavishkaar Capital homepage
https://aavishkaarcapital.in/
Chiratae Ventures homepage
https://www.chiratae.com/
Trifecta Capital homepage
https://trifectacapital.in/
Ergos app on Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.GrainbankBuyer.app
Previous MicroCapital article on Abler Nordic
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-abler-nordic-sells-equity-stake-in-satin-creditcare-provider-of-microfinance-to-low-income-women-in-india/
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