Noida-based agriculture technology startup Arya Collateral has raised US$ 21 million through a mix of equity and debt as part of its Series B round. Washington-based Quona Capital led the equity investment,with existing investors LGT Lightstone Aspada and Omnivore. Multiple lenders provided additional debt financing to the company.
In a statement, the startup said the funds would be used to expand financing to farmers through Arya’s embedded fintech arm Aryadhan and to strengthen its digital post-harvest services and market linkages platform A2Z Godaam.
As part of the investment, Varun Malhotra, Principal at Quona Capital, will join the Arya’s board.
Launched by Rao, Chattanathan Devarajan and Anand Chandra, Arya provides storage, warehouse management, embedded finance and market linkages to agricultural producers and buyers across India. Arya’s clients include farmers, farmer producer organisations (FPOs), financial institutions, SME agri processors, commodity traders and corporate agribusinesses.
Speaking on the investment, Quona Capital co-founder and partner Ganesh Rengaswamy said Arya was addressing a vastly underserved market of farmers in India, half of whom had little access to post-harvest finance.
Of the food grains worth US$ 130 billion produced by India annually, there are huge losses in primary and secondary markets due to lack of storage, forcing farmers to sell off-cycle for lower returns,” said Arya’s co-founder and CEO Prasanna Rao in a press statement. Arya raised $6 million in pre-Series B funding from venture capital firm Omnivore and LGT Lightstone Aspada in March 2020.
