Arya.ag, an Indian agritech firm providing storage amenities close to farms and providing lending providers to a whole lot of 1000’s of farmers, has drawn investor curiosity and remained worthwhile at the same time as world crop costs proceed to fall in a risky commodities market.
The investor curiosity has taken form within the newest all-equity Sequence D spherical from GEF Capital Companions, totaling $81 million, of which greater than 70% was main capital and the remaining secondary share gross sales, in accordance with the corporate.
Globally, agricultural commodity costs are falling. Dangers from excessive climate, enter prices, commerce disruptions, and biofuel coverage shifts proceed to weigh on agricultural markets, the World Financial institution has warned. This leaves companies uncovered to cost swings and stock losses. Nonetheless, Arya.ag says it’s navigating the worst of that pressure by steering away from direct commodity bets and utilizing a mannequin that it says helps take up shocks from downward pricing shifts.
Based in 2013 by former ICICI Financial institution executives Prasanna Rao, Anand Chandra, and Chattanathan Devarajan, Arya.ag is constructed round a easy concept: giving farmers extra management over when and to whom they promote their crops. The Noida-based startup presents storage near farms whereas permitting farmers to borrow in opposition to warehoused grain to satisfy fast money wants and connecting them with a wider pool of consumers — from agri-corporations to processors and millers — serving to them keep away from the strain to promote simply after harvest, when costs are sometimes weakest.
The corporate operates at scale, which units Arya.ag aside from conventional lenders, banks, and different agribusiness platforms. The startup says it aggregates and shops about $3 billion value of grain annually — roughly 3% of nationwide output — and facilitates round $1.5 billion in loans yearly, whereas preserving its fee of unhealthy loans (often called gross non-performing belongings, or NPAs) beneath 0.5% regardless of the current drop in costs.
Arya.ag lends solely a portion of the worth of saved grain and tracks costs intently, triggering margin calls when required relatively than taking losses itself, Rao mentioned. Debtors can reply by repaying a part of the mortgage or including extra grain as collateral.
“You’re not resistant to dangers,” Rao advised TechCrunch. “However as a result of your lending is totally secured in opposition to commodities, it can by no means occur that the costs will fall by 90%. You have already got a margin of 30%, and along with your mark to market, you’ve been capable of management your NPAs and defaults.”
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Within the 12 months ended March 2025, Arya.ag generated internet income of ₹4.5 billion (round $50 million), with first-half income within the present monetary 12 months rising about 30% from a 12 months earlier to ₹3 billion ($33.3 million). Revenue after tax stood at ₹340 million (about $3.78 million) final 12 months, and has risen an extra 39% to this point this 12 months, Rao mentioned.
Arya.ag says it now reaches between 850,000 and 900,000 farmers throughout 60% of India’s districts, working by a community of about 12,000 agricultural warehouses, all leased from third events. The startup generates income from farmers for storage, from banks for originating loans in opposition to saved grain, and from consumers for facilitating crop gross sales by its platform.
Storage stays the biggest contributor, accounting for about 50–55% of complete income, whereas finance contributes 25–30% and the remaining comes from commerce, Rao mentioned.
Arya.ag disburses greater than ₹110 billion (about $1.2 billion) in loans to farmers annually by its platform. Between ₹25 billion and ₹30 billion (roughly $278 million–$333 million) of that comes from its personal steadiness sheet through its non-banking finance arm, Rao mentioned, with the remaining originated for accomplice banks.
Arya.ag’s loans carry rates of interest of about 12.5% to 12.8%, effectively beneath the 24% to 36% usually charged by fee brokers, Rao mentioned, although greater than financial institution lending charges of round 11% to 12%. He added that banks typically don’t lend within the small, native markets near farming areas that Arya serves, the place mortgage sizes are a fraction of typical financial institution tickets and debtors are sometimes situated removed from formal branches.
The startup approves loans in underneath 5 minutes with disbursements dealt with virtually totally digitally, Rao mentioned.
Expertise performs a central position in how Arya.ag manages threat and scale. The startup makes use of AI to evaluate grain high quality for lending choices, satellite tv for pc knowledge to trace crop stress earlier than harvest, and hermetic, sensor-enabled storage luggage that enable farmers to retailer grain for prolonged intervals even in villages with out formal warehouses.
Arya.ag plans to make use of the contemporary capital to scale its tech deployments additional, together with increasing good farm facilities and deploying extra digital instruments nearer to farms. A part of the funding, Rao mentioned, can even go towards strengthening the startup’s blockchain-based system that digitally tracks saved grain, permitting crops used as collateral or bought by the platform to be monitored throughout lending and commerce transactions, alongside continued funding in storage and credit score infrastructure.
With the newest capital infusion and bettering profitability, Arya.ag is aiming to be IPO-ready within the subsequent 18 to twenty months, Rao mentioned.
Past India, Arya.ag plans to develop selectively by a software-led mannequin, with a few of its expertise already deployed in elements of Southeast Asia and Africa. The startup has a headcount of over 1,200 full-time staff.
Avendus suggested Arya.ag for the brand new monetary spherical.
