By Mark Kawalya
Agri-tech startup iProcure has raised $10.2 million in a Series B funding that was headlined by Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P). Also participating were Ceniarth British International Investment (BII) and Novastar Ventures. iProcure, which has its roots in Africa, is data-driven and has a mandate to lower production costs for farmers.
The funding will be geared towards supporting iProcure’s expansion into Uganda and Tanzania. Similarly, iProcure plans to use some of the funding to launch a credit facility framework for agro-retailers to procure supplies on credit.
iProcure’s new CEO, Niraj Varia, said “In addition to bolstering our existing operations with more warehouses and delivery vehicles, this funding will expand iProcure’s product offering to include credit services and a new POS system for agro-dealers to better forecast their inventory needs and reduce pilferage within their shops. This will help our 5,000+ partner retailers increase their earnings and better serve the hundreds of thousands of farmers that depend on each shop.”
In 2013, iProcure was founded in Kenya by Stefano Carcoforo and Nicole Galletta and is currently the largest agri-focused supply chain platform in rural Africa. Aside from its comprehensive procurement and last mile distribution offerings, the firm also offers business intelligence and data-driven stock management for supply chains. iProcure has transformed traditional farming supply chains in East Africa by curating its own distribution infrastructure. This has directly linked major agriculture input suppliers to immediate agro-dealers using the firm’s proprietary distribution technology system.
iProcure eliminates various levels of middlemen from the traditional agriculture supply chain and provides technology-based insights on supply levels and price. The firm is therefore able to guarantee the availability, quality, and supply of critical agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and seeds at discounts of up to 25% off compared to prevailing market rates.
The firm lowers the cost of food and reduces the impact that agriculture has on the climate by making it possible for smallholder farmers to plant crops on time and achieve higher crop yields while making use of less land.
Asif Noorani, Senior Investment Manager of Impact Investing at I&P, said, “iProcure is playing a pivotal role in transforming the agricultural sector in Africa by digitising the agro-retailer networks and making last-mile agricultural input distribution more efficient. At its core, iProcure is improving farmers’ access to genuine and affordable agricultural inputs by consolidating the region’s fragmented agricultural inputs sector. These processes ultimately lower the cost of food production and improve food security.”
