One of the most significant industries in the Philippines is agriculture, which also includes forestry and fisheries. It contributed $32.4 billion, or 9.6%, to the nation’s GDP in 2021 and employed 24% of the labour force.
Despite its promise, the industry currently uses conventional supply chain techniques.
To digitalize the system, many seasoned businesspeople founded Mayani in 2019.
The business offers a marketplace to link farmers with both private individuals and large businesses. Currently, it has over 11,000 clients using its platform, including companies like Shell, Robinsons Group, and Kopiko, and over 139,000 farmers.
AgFunder, a Silicon Valley-based investor in agritech, recently led a seed investment round for Mayani in which Atlas Ventures and Accelerating Asia Ventures also participated, raising US $1.7 million. AgFunder’s first investment in the Philippines is represented by this contract.
Mayani announced that negotiations to raise a series A investment round had begun.
Jeff Barreiro, JT Solis, Josef Amarra, Juan Lorenzo Villanueva, and Ochie San Juan founded the company.
It started off by concentrating on lettuce and eggplant fields in Southern Luzon. Later, it grew to include other goods including coffee, fruit, and chicken.
The company sells “imperfect harvests” like crooked carrots and undersized potatoes in addition to its high-quality food. It has sent 6.5 tonnes of these items to individual clients and over 40 tonnes to the B2B market overall.
According to Barreiro, expanding market access is just the beginning of his goal. The business intends to create an ecosystem to interact with rivals and employ numerous data sources to market agricultural input and develop finance methods.
“We’re building the bedrock upon which we could drive more traction and positive impact,” added Barreiro.
