$12.9 M Pre-Series A funding raised by Ghanaian agri-tech startup Farmerline

Farmerline, a Ghanaian startup that bills itself as “Amazon for African farmers,” has raised US $6.4 million in pre-Series A funding as well as another US $6.5 million in loans to help it grow.

Farmerline, founded in 2013 by Alloysius Attah and Emmanuel Owusu Addai, works with agribusinesses and farm groups to provide high-quality fertiliser and seeds, as well as free instruction on climate-smart agricultural methods and access to worldwide markets, to African farmers.

Its marketplace integrates digital tools with logistics, field agents, farm resources, and strategic relationships, while Mergdata, the company’s in-house technology platform, is licenced by major food merchants and manufacturers who utilise its configurable solutions to help farmers all over the globe.

Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF) and FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, led the US $6.4 million equity investment, which also included Greater Impact Foundation. It is Farmerline’s first equity offering since its inception over a decade ago with a US $600 grant. DEG, Rabobank, Ceniarth, Rippleworks, Mulago Foundation, Whole Planet Foundation, Netri Foundation, and Kiva are among the lenders on the US $6.5 million debt.

Farmerline has digitised over one million farmers through partnerships in 26 countries to date, and with the additional money, it plans to expand its reach.

“At the peak of the pandemic, local agricultural SMEs played a vital role in ensuring food security – supporting farmers; supplying agricultural inputs; and distributing to final consumers,” Attah said. “With this new investment, we will scale the AI capabilities within Farmerline’s Mergdata platform to help increase the income of farmers and agribusinesses; supporting them to access farm inputs; supplying them with assets such as tricycles, tractors and threshers; and connecting them to global markets.”

Farmerline will also invest in local infrastructure and logistics to assist distribution, as well as expand the industry’s present marketplace in Ghana, with aspirations to build partnerships with partners in the Ivory Coast.

“Farmerline’s goal has always been to create lasting wealth for farmers and their communities. To do that at scale, we’re expanding our operations across regions and are actively on the lookout for the best talent to help build an efficient supply chain that saves money for agribusinesses, reduces the cost of farming and the time it takes for people to get services to rural areas. We must ensure that local agribusinesses grow because when they do, we all succeed,” Addai said.

Tamer El-Raghy, ARAF’s managing director, expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to co-lead the investment and to collaborate with world-class Ghanaian businesses.

“Farmerline’s technology platform helps smallholder farmers adapt to climate change by increasing their income and reducing their income volatility by providing them with access to inputs and markets while helping them adapt sustainable and climate smart practices which perfectly fits ARAF’s investment strategy. This is an invaluable addition to ARAF’s portfolio and we look forward to supporting Farmerline’s local and regional growth,” he said.