OneBasket to raise funds by early 2021
Full-stack supply chain platform uses AI and ML to trace and grade food grains for farmers
Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based agritech startup, OneBasket, which is addressing the supply-demand gap in the non-perishables segment, will go for a Seed A round of funding to a tune of $5 million (about Rs 35-40 crore) to expand its operations. The company is currently in talks with venture capital firms and plans to raise funds in the next 2-3 months.
OneBasket currently caters to about 250 farmers (those with three or more than three acres under cultivation) and about 4,200 customers on its app. Its full-stack supply chain platform uses emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning to trace and grade food grains.
The company provides a mapping platform by linking the consumers to farmers and thus enables optimised and predictable supply chain. The company is looking to serve farmers across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka in the initial years, before heading pan-India.
Farmer-consumer connect
OneBasket co-founder and managing director Madhusudan Reddy told Telangana Today, “Our platform has been created to address the supply-demand gap in the agriculture supply chain as the harvests are seasonal for non-perishables and there is no standardisation in the agricultural products. Typically, age-old methods are used to determine the quality and the price is fixed on that basis. We want to change that.”
Having been in operation for the last 15 months, the company has been assisting farmers in fair trade and connecting them directly with the customers. He said, “The market is flooded with organic-labelled products and consumers are not aware if they are paying for the label or if the products are genuinely organic. Onebasket is addressing this issue.”
The farmers are asked to upload photos of their farm & produce as well as information on whether the farmer has irrigated his farm in the last week, and details of pests & pesticides. The platform analyses the data taking weather and other factors into consideration to determine if the produce is organic or not.
“The company’s app is facilitating farmers of rice and toor dal in and around Hyderabad, Karimnagar, and Medak. We soon want to have 20-25 SKUs in the grain (rice and dal varieties) segment and then enter into vegetables segment,” added Reddy. In the next season, the company will foray into the seasonal fruits segment such as mango. Also, there is scope to aid cotton farmers in terms of traceability, going forward.
On the customer traction, he said, customers have realised the value of the platform as they are getting consistent quality. They are now encouraged to go for a subscription model between three and 12 months.
Supply chain efficiency
The supply chain is currently handled by the company but in near future it plans to partner with organised delivery partners to increase its reach. The company has also started catering to restaurants. Reddy said, as the lack of scientific mechanism for quality assessment in the supply chain leads to price variance for sellers and quality variance for buyers, OneBasket assigns grading to the agriculture products using AI.
He added, “The current method ensures 75 per cent efficiency and as the system learns, the company expects to reach 95 per cent efficiency within the next one year. It further provides pricing insights for farmers based on customer demand and previous history that aids in fixing an appropriate price.”
The company is mapping the demand and supply and going forward plans to share insights to farmers that will help them what to cultivate and what is in demand, so that their return on investment on their crop is high.
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