Grain trading platform Arya.ag, which allows farmers to sell their produce after harvest, announced Monday that it has raised a $19.8 million commitment from the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). United to secure a credit facility for the company’s agricultural trading subsidiary, Aryatech. The new funding round follows the $29 million equity financing raised by Arya.ag last quarter. The company said the debt would help increase its capacity to connect farmers and FPOs with buyers nationwide.

Speaking on the investment, Prasanna Rao, Co-Founder and CEO, Arya.ag, said this will enable the company to connect more farmers and FPOs with buyers well beyond their existing networks, thereby creating a more efficient and inclusive agricultural market.

The startup empowers farmers and their organizations to decide when and to whom they want to sell their produce after harvest by providing access to storage and financing at the farm level. Currently present in 60 percent of Indian districts, covering over 11,000 agricultural warehouses.

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“DFC is pleased to support AryaTech in expanding its growing agri-tech platform connecting small farmers and agricultural producer organizations to buyers in underserved regions of India. This transaction aligns with our goal of supporting economic growth and prosperity in communities across India,” said James Polan, Vice Chairman of DFC. Health & Agro-industry.

Arya.ag said it aggregates and stores $3 billion worth of grain annually while enabling the disbursement of more than $1.5 billion in loans to smallholder farmers, their organizations and other stakeholders . With a growth of 77% over the last year, the startup said it reported a pre-tax profit of Rs 22 crore in FY24.

Indian agritech walk is likely to more than double from $4 billion in 2022 to $34 billion in 2027, while the food crops segment alone is expected to grow from $3 billion to $25 billion by 2027, according to the India Brand Equity Foundation.