In a pre-Series C funding round co-led by Ashish Kacholia and RBA Finance and Investment Company, agritech startup BigHaat has raised $8.4 million. In addition, Amee Shah Mehta, Rupaben Shailesh Mehta, Advik Tecnocommercial, Viren Ajit Joshi, Rohhan Viren Joshi, Nishchay Goel, and VPK Global participated in the round.
According to BigHaat’s regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies, the board approved a special resolution and allotted 6,186 compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) at an issue price of Rs 1,12,366 apiece for a consideration of Rs 69.5 crore, or $8.4 million.
With contributions of Rs 30 crore apiece, Suresh Agarwal (representing RBA Finance and Investment Company) and Ashish Kacholia co-led the round.
Anshul Anil Goel invested Rs 1.5 crore, while VPK Global contributed Rs 3 crore.
The investors who were mentioned at the start of the story provided the remaining funds. According to a BigHaat representative, the new funding was raised in the course of a pre-Series C round and will be followed by a larger round in the upcoming months.
BigHaat is an agritech startup that helps farmers with distribution, marketing, and operations by offering data-driven crop advice. Through its marketplace platform, the company also sells agricultural products like seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, pumps, tractors, and growth promoters.
Following the distribution of the new shares, RBA Finance and Investment Company and Ashish Kacholia each acquired roughly 6.4% of the company’s shares. With more than 27% of the shares in BigHaat, JM Financial is still the biggest shareholder.
To date, BigHaat has raised about $29 million. It raised Rs 100 crore in January 2022 under the direction of JM Financial and its current backer Beyond Next Ventures.
Over the last two fiscal years, BigHaat has experienced rapid growth. In FY23, its gross revenue increased by 5.4 times to Rs 643 crore from Rs 119.7 crore in FY22. In the meantime, its losses increased 6.2X, from Rs 5.65 crore in FY22 to Rs 35 crore in FY23.
