CropIn's new app helps data-driven farming
Date:10-03-2017
CropIn Technologies, which provides Software as a service (SaaS) based services to agribusinesses globally, wants to maximise per acre value of farmers, and make every farm traceable.
The company, which was founded in 2010, is targeting more farmers to use its newly launched app, which enables them to do connected and data driven farming.
“We started CropIn with $10,000 (approximately Rs 6 lakh), which was raised from friends. What we noticed was farmers were using traditional technique, and we wanted to disseminate the right information and the marriage of agriculture and technology will result in more productivity,” said CropIn Technologies CEO Krishna Kumar.
Kumar said that the ecosystem has improved now with more farmers using smartphones, they can analyse, interpret data and derive real time actionable insights on standing crop and projects spanning geographies. CropIn uses Big Data analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Geo-tagging and Satellite monitoring to revolutionise the agri-ecosystem.
Interaction with farmers
Its products for B2B are Smartfarm, Mwarehouse, Smartsales, and Smartrisk,.
Its recent offering AcreSquare is a farmer application that helps companies interact directly with their farmers, share content, educate them and provide consultation.
Though it’s now present in B2B, CropIn wants to enter the B2C segment so that more farmers can use its app and get benefitted. “The market is ready right now and we are building solutions. Also, with technology, farmers can get loans from banks and NBFCs, as they know exactly about the crop’s performance over the years,” said Kumar. Its clients include Godfrey Phillips, McCain, IFB Agro, ITC, ICICI Lombard, Big Basket and Philip Morris, among others.
Apart from India, CropIn is present in 12 countries. It works with over 125 clients, benefitting over 5 lakh farmers across the globe. Last year, it raised more than $2 million in Series A funding.