Patna agritech startup Dehaat in talks to raise Series E round with $900 million pre-money valuation, reports say. DeHaat's valuation will top $1 billion after the funding round. The funding round will allow Sequoia-backed companies to outvalue Flipkart-backed Ninjacart. An international private equity group may invest in DeHaat, a Bihar-based agriculture technology business seeking $100 million. DeHaat may be the first agritech unicorn in the country after the financing round.
Sequoia and Flipkart-backed Ninjacart will profit from the fundraiser. Ninjacart was worth $812M previously. Shashank Kumar, co-founder and CEO of DeHaat, did not respond to a thorough enquiry about Series E fundraising.
DeHaat was valued at $500 million to $550 million after its Series D fundraising in October. Sofina and Lightrock India led the agritech startup's $115 million funding round. The fundraising round comprised Sequoia Capital India, Prosus Ventures, Temasek Holdings of Singapore, and FMO.
Dehaat Financials
Amrendra Singh, Shyam Sundar, Adarsh Srivastav, and Kumar launched DeHaat in 2012 to offer farmers a full spectrum of agricultural services, including high-quality agricultural inputs, personalised agricultural advice, access to financial services, and market connections for their produce.
For last-mile delivery, the company uses 3,000 DeHaat micro-entrepreneurs. It serves 650,000 farmers in Bihar, UP, Jharkhand, and Odisha.
DeHaat has bought four businesses. In April, the company bought 75% of Bengaluru-based food processor YCook. It previously bought agribusiness marketplace Helicrofter. Helicrofter's acquisition will allow DeHaat to expand into Maharashtra and other western Indian states.
DeHaat bought FarmGuide in 2019 to establish a full-stack platform for Indian farmers and agribusinesses. The company bought Veezamart to increase the number of farmers using its platform. Inc42 predicts India's agritech market will reach $24.1 billion by 2025. Waycool, Agrostar, and Arya.org are well-known agritech startups.
Waycool was worth $375M, while AgroStar was $235M. Arya.org's valuation surpassed $300 million after its Series C investment, which raised $60 million.
Patna-based DeHaat dismissed 100 employees this month. Kumar stated the layoffs were a corrective measure and not in the triple digits. DeHaat's CEO told Moneycontrol the company hired 1,000 people in the past 14 to 15 months. LinkedIn says DeHaat employs 1,116.
