Indian agtech start-up Gramophone eyes expansion in UP, Maharashtra and South

Indore-based agritech start-up Gramophone has added a trading module — Vyapar — to its farm management platform that will help farmers connect with buyers and sell their produce directly.

Also, the company plans to expand its operations to states such as Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over the next 12 months, said Gramophone founder Tauseef Khan.

Gramophone currently operates mainly in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, where over seven lakh farmers are using the farm management platform for crop advisory and purchase of inputs. “We are adding about one lakh farmers every month to our platform,” Khan said. Also, the company has a physical presence in nine locations through its Gramodaya centres.

The Gramophone platform provides customised crop advisory to farmers right from sowing of the crop to the harvest through its mobile app and also through the call centre, Khan said. Farmers are provided agronomy advice and updates on weather, market price and also on pests and diseases.

Gramophone currently works with companies such as Godrej Agrovet and Dhanuka on the crop protection side and with seed companies such as Rasi and Nunheims among others.

Now, by adding the Vyapar module to its platform, Gramophone is enabling farmers to market their produce. It has already about 500 buyers on board, including traders and processors on its platform and plans to add another 5,000 by the year-end, he said.

Started in 2016, Gramophone raised $3.4 million in its latest round of funding in December 2020 from Siana Capital. Earlier, it had raised a total of $4.5 million from investors such as Info Edge, Asha Impact and Better Capital.