Agritech startup DeHaat acquires Helicrofter to empower farmers

New Delhi, Jan 17 Agritech startup DeHaat on Monday said it has acquired Maharashtra-based B2B agri-input marketplace startup called Helicrofter, for an undisclosed sum

With the integration of Helicrofter, encompassing over 2,000 agri-input retailers and 30 sellers across Maharashtra, DeHaat has expanded its operation to another major agricultural belt, said Shashank Kumar, DeHaat's Co-founder and CEO.

DeHaat currently serves over 700,000 farmers across Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Founded in 2020 by Siddhartha Choudhary, Helicrofter is a farm input e-commerce platform designed to do away with supply chain inefficiencies in the rural ecosystem.

Despite the pandemic, Helicrofter has achieved annual revenue in excess of Rs 50 crore.

"What makes this partnership even more ideal for us is the complementing ideologies and synergy of function that will enable us to work together in materialising our vision for the farmer communities that we jointly serve," said Choudhary.

DeHaat provides farmers with access to over 3,200 agricultural inputs, combined with AI-based customised crop advisory on pest and disease management, delivered via mobile app and call centres.

The platform also aggregates more than 30 crops from farmers on their network and directly supplies it to over 600 commodity bulk buyers, including retail chains, e-commerce players, FMCG giants, and SME food processors.

"We have been consistent with 35-40 per cent growth in our network on a month-on-month basis, and this acquisition will cement our footprint into Maharashtra and thereby the western part of India, which forms a major agri-cluster for the nation," said Amrendra Singh, Co-founder, DeHaat.

This is the third acquisition by DeHaat. Last year, it acquired FarmGuide, which allowed the startup to integrate satellite-based crop advisory solutions for farmers.