Round led by Asia Impact SA & Lightrock India, Quona Capital and US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) among others
Arya, India’s largest integrated grain commerce platform, today announced the close of its Series C round, having raised USD 60 million in a mix of equity and debt. The equity round was led by Asia Impact SA, Lightrock India and Quona Capital. The agritech platform also raised debt financing from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) among others.
Arya.ag connects sellers and buyers of agriproduce, providing complete assurance on quantity, quality and payments. The platform eliminates distress sales of farmers’ produce by enabling farmgate storage and seamless finance options, offering farmers the freedom of when and whom to sell to. With visibility into over 10,000 commodity storage points across the country, Arya assures year-round supply to SME and corporate buyers with embedded financing options.
Chattanathan Devarajan, Arya’s co-founder, said, “We have visibility on grains worth over USD 2 billion on the Arya platform, and this number is growing rapidly as we gather data from warehouses around the country. This funding round will help us gain market share for our core offerings and add more services to consolidate our position as India’s most trusted platform in agriculture. We believe that these partnerships, old and new, are an endorsement of Arya’s strength to drive penetration and lead transformation within the sector.”
“Through the pandemic, we have seen Arya transform agri-commerce across India,” said Matteo Pusineri, director of Asia Impact SA. “Arya will help accomplish Asia Impact’s vision to integrate rural under-served farming communities across Asia to markets at scale. We are confident that Arya, under the leadership of Prasanna Rao, Anand Chandra and Chattanathan Devarajan, will greatly contribute to a unique ecosystem supporting the sustainable growth story of rural India.”
“We are excited about our continued partnership with Arya as they build the largest grain platform in the country,” said Vaidhehi Ravindran, partner at Lightrock India. “They have built a strong and profitable foundation over the last few years, and with the addition of the marketplace are in a period of accelerated growth and impact. With a team that is a great combination of innovation meets prudent risk management, we are confident that Arya will transform the grain markets as a whole.”
“At Quona, we believe long-term structural changes can be accelerated by introducing more transparency,” said Varun Malhotra, partner at Quona Capital. “Arya’s unparalleled reach across rural India, coupled with its tech-driven integrated service model, has made it one of the fastest-growing agri-commerce platforms in India. Arya is successfully bridging the trust gap in post-harvest agri transactions through complete transparency and assurance on quality, quantity and payments. We are excited to deepen our partnership with Arya.”
The founders of Arya—Chattanathan Devarajan, Prasanna Rao and Anand Chandra—have decades of experience in agri-business and agri-finance. Under their leadership, Arya has worked towards the creation of trust, efficient networks, and enduring value for players across the value chain including small-holder farmers, FPOs, small aggregators, and agribusiness corporations. With an established product-market fit with differentiated efficiencies, proven scale, and profitability managing over 3 million metric tons across 21 states, the company has created a strong foundation while building viable options for enhancing the market power of smallholders and their organizations. Arya intends to use the funding to capture 20%+ of the USD 100 billion grain commerce market.
Asia Impact SA was advised by Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co with a team led by Manav Nagaraj and KS Bhargava. Setuka Partners was the advisor on debt finance from US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
ABOUT ARYA
Arya.ag, India’s largest and fastest-growing integrated grain commerce that eliminates the trust deficit in the grain commerce value chain through its disruptive integrated PAN India platform that delivers value to all stakeholders by enabling access to high-quality produce, products, and services. Powered by an exponentially growing layer of visibility and control currently stretching across 425 districts in 21 states, 10,000 warehouses and USD 2 billion of grain, arya.ag offers the assurance of quality supply to buyers and on-time fair payment for their produce and allied services to seller. It seamlessly embeds finance to maximize value for both sellers and buyers and the platform facilitates over USD 600 Mn of finance annually. More at www.arya.ag
ABOUT ASIA IMPACT INVEST
Asia Impact SA is a Luxembourg based investment company promoting impact investments in India and SEA, in different sectors and at different development stages from start-up to growing/maturing.
Among the leading initiatives where Asia Impact is actively involved we are particularly proud to mention all CreditAccess’ microfinance companies in India and Southeast Asia. Further, Asia Impact structures investment initiatives in single business/companies (club deals) and is currently promoting a new Luxembourg SICAV fund, investing in public listed equity securities of Indian companies.
ABOUT LIGHTROCK INDIA
Lightrock India is the India-focused effort of the global Lightrock impact investing platform. Lightrock India was formed in September 2019 when the LGT group acquired Aspada – an investor in commercially scalable, high-impact businesses since 2012. Lightrock, globally, has operations across 4 continents with over 60 investments managing over $1.2B in assets with over 60 investment professionals, and is backed by the Princely House of Liechtenstein and LGT, the international private banking and asset management group. Visit www.aspada.com
ABOUT QUONA
Quona Capital is a venture firm focused on fintech for inclusion in emerging markets. Quona partners have deep experience as investors and operators in both emerging and developed markets, and look for entrepreneurs whose companies have the potential to provide outstanding financial returns and promote breakthrough innovation. Quona has supported nearly 50 financial technology companies expanding access for underserved consumers and small businesses in South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East (MENA). Quona got its start through a strategic relationship with Accion, a global nonprofit with a pioneering legacy in microfinance and fintech impact investing. More at quona.com.
About U.S. International Development Finance Corporation
U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is America’s development bank. DFC partners with the private sector to finance solutions to the most critical challenges facing the developing world today. We invest across sectors including energy, healthcare, critical infrastructure, and technology. DFC also provides financing for small businesses and women entrepreneurs in order to create jobs in emerging markets. DFC investments adhere to high standards and respect the environment, human rights, and worker rights.
