Ghana’s Farmerline raises $12.9m in Pre-Series A and Debt Funding Round to scale, help farmers get maximum output
Farmerline Group, a Ghanaian agtech startup that helps African farmers get maximum output from their farming business has raised $6.4 million in Pre-Series A investment and $6.5 million debt from Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF) and FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank-led equity round with participation from Greater Impact Foundation. Debt lenders included DEG, Rabobank, Ceniarth, Rippleworks, Mulago Foundation, Whole Planet Foundation, the Netri Foundation, and Kiva.
The equity round was Farmerline’s first equity raise since Alloysius Attah and Emmanuel Owusu Addai launched the Agtech startup in 2013 with $600 seed capital. It is now ready for a rapid take-off with plans to reach 300,000 farmers in 2022, a nearly 400% increase in growth compared to last year. It will start its expansion in Ghana before expanding to the neighboring Ivory Coast.
The fund will be used to strengthen its supply chain for agribusinesses, reduce the cost of farming, and increase yield for farmers on the continent through the deployment of AI technology and local infrastructure.
The startup claimed to have so far digitized over 1 million farmers through partnerships across 26 countries; employed over 200 people in Ghana; and evolved Mergdata into an AI-powered super-platform for supply chain intelligence like crop yield prediction, fertilizer demand forecasting, product traceability, and Agribusiness credit scoring for asset and fertilizer financing.
The convid-19 pandemic grounded countries’ economies and affected businesses globally with over 16,000 agribusinesses closed down in Ghana alone. However, those who did pull through presented themselves as some of the most efficient and sustainable ways to reach Africa’s 33 million smallholder farms. Hence, Farmerline works through agricultural SMEs to ultimately serve more farmers.
“At the peak of the pandemic, local agricultural SMEs played a vital role in ensuring food security – supporting farmers; supplying agricultural inputs; and distributing to final consumers,” Farmerline’s Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Alloysius Attah explained.
“With this new investment, we will scale the AI capabilities within Farmerline’s Mergdata platform to help increase the income of farmers and agribusinesses; supporting them to access farm inputs; supplying them with assets such as tricycles, tractors, and threshers; and connecting them to global markets,” he added.
Africa’s agribusiness sector has been projected to reach $1 trillion by 2030, for that to materialize, the continent will need eight times more fertilizer and six times more improved seeds to be able to feed itself and realize its full agricultural potential.
Farmerline’s marketplace combines digital tools, logistics, field agents, farm resources, and agribusiness partnerships to support African farmers with access to high-quality fertilizer and seeds; free education on climate-smart farming practices; and connections to international markets. The company’s in-house technology platform Mergdata is also licensed by global food traders and manufacturers who use its customizable tools to improve the lives of farmers around the world.
Emmanuel Owusu Addai, Co-founder, and Chief Operations Officer said “Farmerline’s goal has always been to create lasting wealth for farmers and their communities. To do that at scale, we’re expanding our operations across regions and are actively on the lookout for the best talent to help build an efficient supply chain that saves money for agribusinesses, reduces the cost of farming, and the time it takes for people to get services to rural areas. We must ensure that local agribusinesses grow because when they do, we all succeed.”
Tamer El-Raghy, Managing Director of ARAF expressed his delight in the partnership, “We’re honored to co-lead this investment round in Farmerline with FMO and excited to partner with world-class Ghanaian entrepreneurs like Aloysius and Emmanuel. Farmerline’s technology platform helps smallholder farmers adapt to climate change by increasing their income and reducing their income volatility by providing them with access to inputs and markets while helping them adapt sustainable and climate smart practices which perfectly fits ARAF’s investment strategy. This is an invaluable addition to ARAF’s portfolio and we look forward to supporting Farmerline’s local and regional growth.”
Maurice Scheepens, Senior Investment Officer for FMO’s Venture Program, added, “We are honored to be part of Farmerline’s first institutional capital raise together with our partner ARAF. Farmerline is an excellent addition to FMO’s Ventures Program portfolio, which aims to empower local entrepreneurs that leverage disruptive technology for a better world. We are impressed with the platform the local founding entrepreneurs have been able to build and look forward to leveraging FMO’s network and value-add offerings to sustainably support Famerline’s continued growth.”
Alloysius noted that the investment is a pivotal moment for “our industry and a chance for us all to transform the way we work together as a community to benefit the lives of farmers who currently feed one-third of the world – and will need to increase production by 70% to feed nine billion people in 2050. A dynamic agribusiness sector is crucial to the success of this.”