The problem
An Indian smallholder buys seeds from whoever is nearby, guesses at fertiliser doses, borrows from the local moneylender, and sells to the first trader who shows up at harvest. Every link in that chain takes a cut while the farmer carries all the risk.
How it works
DeHaat, founded in 2012 by IIT, IIM, and NIT alumni and based in Patna and Gurugram, runs a business-to-farmer platform: village micro-entrepreneurs deliver quality inputs to the farmgate, the app and helpline give customised crop advisory in local languages, partner institutions open access to finance, and DeHaat aggregates the output for sale to 850+ agribusiness buyers across 200+ cities and export markets.
Pain points
Fake or overpriced inputs, no expert to consult mid-season, credit locked behind collateral requirements, and harvest-time distress sales to middlemen.
Business model
Input-distribution margins — increasingly from exclusive distribution tie-ups and private labels — plus take-rates on aggregated output, exports, food processing, storage, and financial-services partnerships.
Challenges
Trading margins stay thin until scale kicks in; aggregating across 11 states ties up working capital; and rival agritech platforms fight over the same input dealers and output buyers.
Funding
- Raised: $115M Series D (Oct 2021) co-led by Sofina and Lightrock India with Temasek, Prosus Ventures, RTP Global, Sequoia Capital India, and FMO; then a $60M Series E co-led by Temasek and Sofina Ventures (Dec 2022) with RTP Global, Prosus Ventures, and Lightrock participating (BusinessLine, Entrackr).
- Valuation: MISSING.
Latest — Jul 2025
DeHaat closed FY25 with consolidated revenue of nearly ₹3,000 crore, up 11% year-on-year, operating at a ₹4,000-crore annual run rate. It targets ₹800 crore in export revenue in FY26 (from ₹430 crore in FY25) with enterprise-level profitability from the first quarter, after strategic acquisitions including Olam-backed AgriCentral took farmer outreach to 13 million across 11 states.