Agritech startup Krishi Network onboards Pankaj Tripathi as investor and brand ambassador

Gurgaon-based agritech startup Krishi Network today announced it has onboarded Bollywood actor Pankaj Tripathi as an investor and brand ambassador. As part of the association, the agritech startup has raised an undisclosed sum in funding from the Bollywood actor.

According to the startup, The association with the actor marks the startup’s efforts to reach out to the masses and help connect with farmers at the grassroots level. Pankaj’s background as a farmer resonates with the startup’s vision to enable farmers to improve profits by providing them instant answers to their questions for making critical farm decisions, it said.

Speaking on the investment, Pankaj Tripathi, said: “Coming from a farmer background, I have always believed in supporting initiatives that help farmers with access to information to grow their business. Back in my days as a farmer, genuine and correct information always used to be a concern, and seeing how Krishi Network is supporting farmers is commendable."

Ashish Mishra and Siddhant Bhomia co-founded the startup in 2018. Krishi Network says it leverages the growing rural internet penetration to create a platform that eases information accessibility for Indian farmers and enables them to generate higher profits from their land.

Providing a mix of online and offline support, the company also has onboarded agri brands, agri-input merchants, and other stakeholders in the agriculture supply chain. With this investment, the company will focus on expanding its AI-based technology platform across India and grow rapidly.

"We are growing Farmers' horizon by reliably connecting them to experts and other agri-businesses beyond their local area. We are delighted with the trust instilled in us and we will work relentlessly to help solve the biggest challenge ailing Indian farmers’ growth," said Ashish Mishra, Co-founder of Krishi Network.

The startup had previously raised funds from several individual investors, including Sanjiv Rangrass (ITC), Sunil Khairnar (Indigram labs), Venkat Tadanki (Anvaya ventures), Rushank Vora (ICICI ventures), Aneesh Reddy (Capillary), Abhishek Goyal (Tracxn), Agam Khare (Absolute Foods), Suraj Saharan (Delhivery), Rohit Razdan (ClearTax), and Kanav Hasija (Innovaccer), among others.

"Krishi Network is an engine that is supported by an engaged community of farmers. This instantly convinced me that the team at Krishi Network led by Ashish & Siddhant will change the landscape for farmers,” said Sanjiv Rangrass (Group Head - R&D, Sustainability at ITC), one of its angel investors.

At present, The platform is connected with 3 million farmers and is planning to grow its network further. It also offers ‘15-minute answers’ for questions around any agricultural service, which is made possible through 8000+ experts registered on their platform, it said.

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