In the coming decade, 100mn farmers in India are going to come online.
Where do you want to be when that happens?
Don't just watch from sidelines the unfolding of history, join
#BharatAgri
and create it.
Whenever I come across such stories, I feel more confident about India's growth story!
Here's a farmer who earned INR 6L from lady finger (bhendi) and INR 4L from pumpkin!
All this within 6 months!
Earlier his plants were dying earlier due to various pests.
By using BharatAgri
Building for Bharat can be challenging.
We have been getting some 1 star ratings with positive comments.
When we spoke with those users about it, they mentioned -
We thought it's ranking and we gave your app 1st Rank!
#BharatAgri
Our flat owner in Bangalore has been increasing rent by only 5% annually since last couple of years.
The best part is, he calls me during renewal and asks - are you fine if we increase rent by 5% as per the agreement?
These stories of steep hikes are crazy!
We were observing that torch sales were picking up consistently on the BharatAgri platform.
We were intrigued as this is not an agricultural product, so we didn't anticipate this.
Our team decided to speak to a few farmers. They mentioned that they get 3 phase electricity at
In the month of July, we crossed INR 5Cr of sales!
It took us 20 months to go from 0 to INR 2.5Cr of monthly sales.
And then it took us 2 months to go from INR 2.5Cr to INR 5Cr of monthly sales!
#BharatAgri
An average Indian farmer grows 40tons sugarcane per acre.
While some well-to-do farmers grow 80tons!
Here's a story of a BharatAgri farmer who has achieved 120tons of sugarcane per acre!
At around 10pm, I'm getting back to back calls from my relatives.
Asking me to watch today's SharkTank episode.
I'm like what happened? What did Ashneer do now!
But wait, Ashneer is not at SharkTank anymore.
So, what can it be?
Lo and behold, the OG
@vineetasng
has mentioned
Lots of chatter on Twitter that Whatsapp payment hasn't picked up in India.
Guess who has started adopting it!
Farmers have started buying BharatAgri subscriptions through WhatsApp UPI!
Time it took to cross 5k BharatAgri subscription sales in a month -
5k - 10 months
10k - 4 months
15k - 2 months
20k - 1 month
Growth happens slowly and then all at once!
🚀🚀
After these farmer protests, our daily sales have increased by 50%. How?
We simply communicated to farmers that we will help them work on what is in your control i.e. applying right farming techniques, using data and increasing yield.
Both my parents tested positive for Covid.
Thanks to the vaccine, they recovered at home itself as they had the first dose.
Eagerly waiting for the second dose for further protection!
Today I interviewed a 38 year old guy. Was shocked to find out that he has been working in the same company since last 15 years!
Moreover, he gave a perfect interview! Looks like I have found treasure.
I will now accept questions on his behalf! :D
After spending 3 days with reputed VCs & founders, if I have to summarise my learning, it would be -
Storytelling is an art that will take your company from 'Good' to 'Great'. As a founder, one must learn it not only for your investors but also for your employees & customers.
4 years after starting up, my in-hand salary is finally more than that of my first job in 2015.
If you are starting up for money, I have a bad news for you. . .
Last year around the same time, when we raised our pre-series A from Binny Bansal, we were adding 500 subscriptions a month.
In the last week, we averaged 500 subscriptions a day!
30x growth in one year!
#BharatAgri
After many night outs and weekend hackathons, happy to share that BharatAgri has launched the most awaited feature for farmers yet.
Farmers can now mark their fields and get satellite based analysis of their farm within 10 minutes!
Time it took to cross INR 50L sales on
#BharatAgri
e-commerce platform -
50L - 6 months
1Cr - 2 months
1.5Cr - 1 month
Paul Graham - The only essential thing is growth. The good news is, if you get growth, everything else tends to fall in place!
Happy to share that
#BharatAgri
has been selected for Google for Startups Accelerator 2020.
With
#Google
expertise and BharatAgri's vision, we look forward to solve the most important problems for Indian
#Agriculture
Excited to announce that
#BharatAgri
has raised $6.5mn in series A round led by Omnivore, to help farmers of India grow more & earn more.
Thank you Mark (
@agri_technology
), Madhukar (
@sinhamadhukar
) and Binny (
@binnybansal
) for having trust in us & in BharatAgri.
Finally someone has said it!
To give context
- A farming FAMILY earns 6k a month. There are 10Cr such families in India
- Our per capita is ~ 12k a month.
Don't know the complaint is against 16k income or the fact that an algorithm is running it.
Something terrific happened last week!
A satellite went out of order due to annual maintenance & cleaning.
& suddenly we saw BharatAgri NPS going down!
1000s of farmers got impacted & alerted us as they couldn't monitor their farms anymore.
What a habit has been created!
Is farming viable for a small farmer, owning less 1 acre farm?
Here's a story of a farmer who has been using BharatAgri since 2 years!
2 months back he cultivated muskmelon on 0.75 acres.
Sold 8 tons of muskmelon and earned a profit of 1.8 Lacs!
#BharatAgri
With 1Lac+ acres of land under management,
BharatAgri farmers are now saving
- 19,000 tons of CO2 an year
- 70,000 tons of chemicals in soil an year
- 30,000 tons of chemicals in ground water an year
#BharatAgri
BharatAgri private label just became operationally profitable!
It will now start generating cash flow for the business!
When we started this private label just 9 months ago, we wanted to fill a key gap in the market.
We advise new age products to farmers that reduce their
Took the bait and accepted my wife's crazy idea to attempt open water swimming in Kochi river.
From not being able to swim 30m in swimming pool to swimming 2km in river; practice sessions with her have paid off!
Pool ✅
Ocean ✅
Lake ✅
River ✅
Soil nutrition has gone for a toss not because of modern farming, but because farmers refuse to follow modern farming.
This is one profession where the main guy has no formal education about their field.
Modern farming talks about integrated nutrient management, soil
Soil nutrition has gone for a toss increasingly with modern farming techniques.
In this video, a farmer shares how even ragi doesn’t grow these days without DAP.
#Agriculture
#Sustainablity
Why shouldn't there be an EdTech in Agriculture?
After all it's the segment that needs it the most.
At
#BharatAgri
we dreamt about it and today executed it.
Never thought that farmers would pay for it!
@LeanAgri_India
Exactly one year ago, we had to change our strategy & sell our services online.
Our customers believed in meeting before transacting.
We launched No Question Asked Refund policy on our digital subscriptions.
Not only did the sales grow, we ended FY20-21 with 0.9% refunds!
November was a special month for BharatAgri!
For the first time, we
--> crossed 15k subscriptions sales in a month
--> crossed cumulative renewal rate of 75%
🚀🚀
Excited to share that BharatAgri has raised a new round of investment, led by Arkam Ventures!
With 10L+ active farmers, 20k+ pincodes and 10k+ SKUs, BharatAgri is one of the largest crop input e-commerce platforms for farmers!
It's so frustrating when your app is removed without any warnings.
An entrepreneur can never forget those sleepless nights.
India needs an own app store now more than ever.
AgriTech has been a hot sector in Indian startup ecosystem.
When the farmer protests started, it was expected that agritech founders will speak about the issue.
However, not enough has been spoken about it.
A thread about what the laws are & why farmers have been protesting!👇
Santa arrived a day late but arrived strong at BharatAgri!
BharatAgri platform now processes an order a minute!
Surprisingly, 30% of daily orders are generated from 11pm-7am.
We can now proudly say that BharatAgri is generating revenue for sellers while they are sleeping!
Being a founder I have realised, one of the fundamental aspects of leadership is the ability to instill confidence in others when you yourselves are feeling insecure!
Few team members tested Covid positive.
Thankful to have
@onsurity
insurance.
- Wow! They covered medicine expenses & even test charges.
- Gave doctor consultancy
- They proactively call every 2-3 days to check up on them
I'm going to add all my family members to this.
Bharat users can surprise you in interesting ways.
Every day, a few
#BharatAgri
subscriptions are sold between 12am to 3am.
We haven't been able to figure out why!
Oct 2020, I mentioned to one of my team members that I'm very happy today as we achieved 30+ subscription sales in a day.
Last week, we recorded the best day in
#BharatAgri
yet, with 300+ subscription sales in a day!🚀🚀
Can't believe that Govts are still issuing TENDERS for vaccine procurement.
You issue a tender when suppliers are dying for your business.
Here, we are dying!
800k downloads in one year, and 1 million monthly visitors on app and website!
Are you sure you are a cosmetics company & not a social media company?
@runophilia
@kaushikmkj
Congratulations on the growth!
This week is very special for
#BharatAgri
.
We hit record daily revenue run rate.
An all time high digital subscription sales in a day.
What a week! And it was just Wednesday!
Interviewed a candidate yesterday who was asked 'Why do you want to join BharatAgri?'
He answered, 'my family is into farming and I'll be honoured to work at BharatAgri & at the same time serve my family!'
And I'm sold already!
Last year, to increase trust among
#BharatAgri
users, we launched 'no questions asked refund' policy.
If farmers aren't happy with our digital subscription services, they can cancel it & ask for full refund.
Happy to share we have been able to maintain refund rate of 0.5%!
MSP or not, farm laws or not.
It's not in your control.
Work on what is in your control.
Soil health, farming techniques, and subscribing to
#BharatAgri
services; now that's in your control.
Our house in Indore got solar panels a month back. Now we don't get electricity bills.
Gas pipeline was installed a few years back.
These things are still a distant dream for our much upscale apartment in Bangalore!
IIT Madras has 85% compulsory attendance.
(focus on the world compulsory)
An institute so reputed has not yet realized that this is a deterrent to creativity & innovation.
Is that the primary reason for low number of unicorns from
@iitmadras
?
Requesting
@ShefVaidya
@NAN_DINI_
to spread the message.
We are providing free counselling to all farmers; how to manage the lockdown and save their crops.
We need farmers for food security of the nation.
#BharatAgri
#coronawarriors
Request
@shweta_shalini
@TajinderBagga
@muglikar_
to spread this message.
We are starting a helpline for free counselling to all farmers; how to manage this 21 day lockdown and save the crop.
Farmers are needed for the food security of nation.
#BharatAgri
VC - So, what do you need from us?
Me - Given your expertise, you'll be great value add. You have such international connects, will be easier to attract foreign capital in future... A ten minute monologue continues...
VC - No, I mean how much are you looking to raise.
Me - 😐
Spent 3 days with 40+ founders and VCs and asked them secret sauce to build a long lasting company.
Long lasting companies have a SUICIDE SQUAD. A core team that would be willing to die for the company!
I was on personal leave last week. As a founder, I was always thinking how the company is performing in my absence.
Came back to see that our subscription sales were up 50% as compared to same period in Jan.
So proud of the product and team that we have built at
#BharatAgri
We asked
@tejeshwi_sharma
from
@Sequoia_India
-
What differentiates a start-up that has raised a large round vs other startup with similar metrics but being able to raise only a smaller round?
He confidently and promptly answered - Storytelling!
BharatAgri family is now 1 million farmers strong!
With this comes a greater responsibility to continue to delight our users with innovative farming solutions.
One of our employees resigned due to burnout and mental pressure. He requested to serve notice from office and not work from home.
He worked from office for the last one month and took back his resignation.
Future is office + WFH with flexibility.
Shooting: Indian🇮🇳 contingent brought the curtains down on a highly successful
#ISSFWorldCup
with the women and men's teams clinching gold medals in the Trap events.
India topped medals tally with a whopping 30 medals in total - 15 gold🥇, 9 silver🥈and 6 bronze🥉.
Agriculture is a profession where farmers don't earn consistent monthly incomes.
Specifically, the summer months are painful due to lack of rainfall & irrigation sources.
Hence, farmers don't grow any crops during Feb-March-April months & have zero incomes.
During these
In the first week of Jan, we released a memo stating that Dec sales were 45% higher than Nov.
After sales reconciliation, we came to know that Dec sales were actually 69% higher.
Now we don't know whether to be happy about sales team or sad about data team.
#BharatAgri
Here's our journey of building the largest e-commerce platform for farmers!
Rural India is witnessing the Flipkart moment that urban India saw a decade back.
BharatAgri has captured the imagination of farmers who are ambitious and are adopting technology for the better!
By
India is currently facing the biggest crisis in its history. It's not Covid! It's the water crisis!
Y'day was World Water Day & it's about time we spoke about it.
A thread about the problem & what can we do about it.
Don't worry this is not 'use bucket not shower' thread.
Have been distributing fruits & medicines to orphanages in Pune.
Thanks to everyone who came forward to contribute. Met some of them here on Twitter.
If you know more such orgs who need help, do let us know.
Spent 6 days in rural areas of Maharashtra.
Every household we visited had a smartphone and internet connectivity was superb.
I could take video calls even from the remotest farms.
October was a special month for
#BharatAgri
.
We crossed
> 10k monthly subscription sales
> 71% renewal rate
This is only the start. These numbers are achieved from one state alone (MH). As we expand to other geographies, these numbers are expected to come from each state.