The company is likely to mop up a large portion of the amount in a few weeks in what could be one of the biggest Series A funding rounds in India’s agritech space, they said.
“Currently, due diligence is being carried out and the final binding offers will be submitted in a fortnight,” one of the people said. The company, the person said, began with raising a smaller round but expanded the size of the round given strong investor interest. “It wanted to raise a smaller $10-20 million round, but the investor interest has forced them to extend the round. It could be $50 million now with the remainder coming in as an extended round.”
“The company is raising a larger funding round to fuel its technology growth and enter newer markets,” said a second person.
Absolute Foods founder Agam Khare and Tiger Global declined comment. Queries emailed to a spokesperson for Falcon Edge remained unanswered.
Founded in 2016 by Khare, Prateek Rawat and Samder Singh, Absolute Foods controls the whole cycle of agri produce — from seed to harvest. Its digital platform is an AI-driven OS that can be implemented across vertical farms, greenhouses and open farms, enabling farmers to grow crops without using synthetic enzymes and genetically modified organisms. Working with over 8,000 farmers across 25,000 acres, Absolute Foods’ platform can identify 63 crop variants and their ideal harvesting environments, its website shows.
The company has a presence across India, the Middle East and North Africa.
In March this year, the company raised $2 million from Sequoia Capital’s incubation programme, Surge, and two angel investors: Nadir Godrej and Sanjiv Rangrass.
Agritech companies are increasingly gaining traction among risk investors where several startups have raised capital in the last couple of months. They included DeHaat, Gramophone, Bijak, Onato, Agrostar, Reshamandi, BharatAgri and TartanSense.
