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<ul><li>The government of India has decided to set up a dedicated fund for agritech startups.</li><li>The finance minister also mentioned that the government intends to pay ₹2.7 lakh crore worth of MSP.</li><li>Like other sectors, the finance ministry has also proposed to further incorporate drones into the agriculture sector.</li></ul>The government of India has decided to set up a dedicated fund for agritech startups, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while announcing the union budget for the year 2022-23. “A fund with blended capital, raised under the co-investment model, will be facilitated through NABARD. This is to finance startups for agriculture &amp; rural enterprise, relevant for farm produce value chain. The activities for these startups will include, inter alia, support for FPOs, machinery for farmers on rental basis at farm level, and technology including IT-based support,” Sitharaman said. The finance minister also mentioned that the government intends to pay ₹2.7 lakh crore worth of minimum support price (MSP) direct payments to wheat and paddy farmers. Besides this, the government is also looking to deploy drones for agriculture monitoring, crop assessment, digitisation of land records and spraying of insect pesticides. The share price of Zen Technologies — a publicly listed company that works on drone detection, classification and tracking — <a href="https://stocktwits.com/Dhwani1105/message/432213049">spiked </a>after the Sitharaman made this announcement. <div type="image" title="Dhwani Agri post" msid="89278267" hostid="261"></div> While the company doesn’t have agricultural operations, the spike of its shares was related to the wider scope of drones. “Startups will be promoted to facilitate Drone Shakti through varied applications and for a drone as a service," Sitharaman added. “The budget has covered multiple avenues for the drone industry to rise, the focus on promoting Agricultural Drones and the NABARD fund to support startups will result in ensuring that the Drone Industry reaches a new milestone. The development of 100 new cargo terminals in the next 3 years will also add to the growth of Drones enabled for cargo deliveries within the terminals and terminals to delivery locations,” Swapnik Jakkampuddi, cofounder of Skye Air Mobility, said. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/economic-survey-2022-highlights-that-delhi-not-bengaluru-is-the-startup-capital-of-india/articleshow/89249128.cms">Delhi, not Bengaluru, is the startup capital of India, says Economic Survey</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/budget/news/indias-defence-budget-allocation-as-per-experts/slidelist/89250030.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Allocation for India's defence may see a nominal increase</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/budget/news/the-government-is-expected-to-announce-1-3-lakh-crore-for-railways-under-the-national-infrastructure-pipeline/articleshow/89256692.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">The government is expected to announce ₹1.3 lakh crore for railways under the national infrastructure pipeline</a>

A fund for agritech startup, inclusion of drones to boost Indian farming

<ul><li><keyword id="366603" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Matrix-Partners-India">Matrix Partners India</keyword>, Ankur Capital, Better Capital and <keyword id="8830555" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="titan-capital">Titan Capital</keyword> also participated in the round.</li><li><keyword id="9611309" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="VeGrow">Vegrow</keyword> provides a technology platform to farmers, which can be used to get high quality farm inputs and best farming practices.</li><li>The <keyword id="3210932" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="B2B-startup">B2B startup</keyword> is looking to expand to 100 cities, invest in technology and launch new products.</li></ul>Business-to-business (B2B) agritech startup for sourcing fruits and vegetables, Vegrow, has raised $13 million in a Series A round co-led by <keyword id="455799" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lightspeed-Venture-Partners">Lightspeed Venture Partners</keyword> and Elevation Capital. Existing investors Matrix Partners India, Ankur Capital, Better Capital and Titan Capital also participated in the round. The company had raised $2.5 million in a seed round in June 2020. Vegrow was founded in April 2020 by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) alumni Praneeth Kumar, Shobhit Jain, Mrudhukar Batchu and Kiran <keyword id="50744" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Naik">Naik</keyword>, who have varying experience in the agri sector. Kumar and Jain started their career at fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) giant ITC’s agribusiness division, whereas Batchu and Naik were directly involved in farming. The company works with small-hold farmers on a profit sharing model and offers assistance across various stages of the farming cycle using technology. Vegrow provides a technology platform to farmers, which can be used to get high quality farm inputs and best farming practices. The platform also enables farmers to sell their harvest to the right buyers for the right price. The B2B startup claims to help farmers in getting higher returns, reducing supply-chain wastage and improving procurement for wholesalers. The company’s founders have emphasised that the new funding will help Vegrow to expand to 100 new cities, invest in technology and launch new products. The company claims to be one of the largest companies for pomegranates in the country in less than a year. Meanwhile, Lightspeed’s partner Vaibhav Agrawal said that companies building a tech-enabled marketplace between farmers and buyers could help eliminate inefficiencies and would have large market opportunities eventually. “Additionally, many marketplaces have scaled up on negative unit margins in this category, so we were really impressed by the growth and positive unit margin Vegrow has demonstrated using its technology-oriented approach to standardise quality, minimise inventory and retain farmers,” Agrawal added. Apart from Vegrow, other companies in India’s agritech space include Ninjakart, AgNext, Samunnati, Dehaat, Farmart, and WayCool. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/swiggy-raises-1-25-billion-in-a-mega-round-of-funding-led-by-softbank-and-prosus/articleshow/84578974.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Swiggy gets a $1.25 billion cheque from Softbank for the same reason Zomato went for an IPO</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/globalbees-has-raised-150-million-in-few-months-of-launch-to-acquire-more-businesses/articleshow/84552291.cms">GlobalBees, a Thrasio-style startup launched by FirstCry and Edelweiss execs, raises $150 million in few months of launch</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/how-to-find-out-if-your-phone-is-infected-by-the-pegasus-spyware/articleshow/84578193.cms">This toolkit will tell you if your phone is infected by the Pegasus spyware</a>

Agritech startup Vegrow raises $13 million Lightspeed, Elevation

New Delhi, June 3 (IANS) Microsoft on Wednesday launched a new programme to help agritech startups in India build industry-specific solutions, scale and grow with access to deep technology, business and marketing resources. The three-tier programme offers tech and business enablement resources to Series C startups that can boost their businesses with Azure benefits (including free credits), unlimited technical support and help with Azure Marketplace onboarding, the company said in a statement. "The Microsoft for Agritech Startups programme is among the early steps in our journey towards empowering these startups in India and transforming global agricultural practices," said Sangeeta Bavi, Director, Startup Ecosystem, Microsoft India. Startups with enterprise-ready solutions can scale quickly with joint go-to-market strategies, technical support and new sales opportunities with Microsoft's partner ecosystem. Lastly, agritech startups that are looking to create digital agriculture solutions have the opportunity to co-build customized solutions with Azure FarmBeats without investing in deep data engineering resources. Available on the Azure Marketplace, Azure FarmBeats enables aggregation of agricultural datasets across providers and generation of actionable insights by building artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) models based on fused datasets. Using Azure FarmBeats, startups can acquire, aggregate and process agricultural data and rapidly develop their own AI/ML models, said Microsoft. Growing at the rate of 25 per cent year-on-year, the country currently hosts more than 450 startups in the agritech sector, according to a recent Nasscom report. Agritech startups in the country received more than $248 million funding in the first half of 2019, a growth of 300 per cent as compared to the same period in the previous year. "Sustainable agricultural technology can transform the global food landscape. Agritech startup innovations are addressing some of our key challenges connected to agriculture and food production," said Bavi. Bringing together startups, corporates, industry bodies, governments and venture capital firms, the programme aims to create a shared platform for learning and innovation, said Microsoft. --IANS na/

New Microsoft programme to empower agritech startups in India

<ul><li>The 30-share BSE index was trading 0.27% lower, while the Nifty50 was down 30 points at 9:56 am.</li><li>These were the top losers and gainers in the Nifty pack. </li><li>These are the top stocks that are buzzing in trade today.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/">Check out the latest news and updates on Business Insider.</a> </li></ul>Indian stock market index Sensex and Nifty opened lower on Thursday, tracking weak cues from global markets and dragged down by banking and IT stocks. The 30-share BSE index was trading 0.27% lower, while the Nifty50 was down 30 points at 9:56 am. These were the top losers and gainers in the Nifty pack: <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Top Nifty Gainers </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Top Nifty Losers </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">HCL Tech </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Hindalco </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Zee Entertainment Limited </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">ICICI Bank </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Grasim </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">HDFC Bank </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Tech Mahindra </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Tata Motors </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Dr Reddy </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Kotak Bank </td></tr></tbody></table>*as of September 17, 9:50 am These are the top stocks that are buzzing in trade today. HCL Tech shares gain over 3% The shares of IT giant HCL Tech were trading 3% higher after it <a href="https://www.bseindia.com/xml-data/corpfiling/AttachLive/a393df27-d142-4bcc-be72-ea6071e6cacc.pdf">announced the expansion </a>of its strategic partnership with Google Cloud to bring HCL’s Actian portfolio, starting with Actian Avalanche, to Google Cloud. Dr Reddy's Laboratories trade 2% higher Dr Reddy's stocks gained for the second day in a row after Russia's sovereign wealth fund said that it would supply 100 million doses of the Sputnik-V COVID-19 vaccine to Dr Reddy's Laboratories after it receives regulatory approval in India. HSIL shares rally 8% The shares of Hindustan Sanitaryware &amp; Industries Limited (HSIL) were trading 8%. The company’s board is slated to meet on September 21 to consider the proposal of buyback of the fully paid-up equity shares. Tata Power shares up 2% The shares of Tata Power gained 2% after it submitted bids for three discoms in Odisha that were looking for privatisation. The bids were called earlier this year for Western, Southern, and Northern Electricity Supply Companies, namely <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/tata-power-india-power-corporation-submit-bids-for-three-discoms-in-odisha-120091602154_1.html">WESCO, SOUTHCO and NESCO</a>. Dhanuka Agritech shares jump 6% The shares of Dhanuka Agritech were up 6% after the company board approved buyback of up to 10 lakh equity shares at a price of ₹1,000 apiece for an aggregate amount not exceeding ₹100 crore. The board has fixed September 28 as the Record Date for determining the entitlement and the names of shareholders who will be eligible for the Buy-Back. Grasim Industries shares gain 3% Grasim Industries gained 3% after the company promoter IGH Holdings acquired 43.5 lakh shares from September 10 to September 11. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/muthoot-finance-says-this-years-growth-is-likely-to-exceed-guidance/articleshow/78159469.cms">EXCLUSIVE: Muthoot Finance says this year's growth is likely to exceed guidance</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/top-stocks-to-watch-hcl-infosys-happiest-minds-tech-indigo-spicejet-bharat-petroleum-hindustan-petroleum-and-more/articleshow/78158942.cms">Top stocks to watch— HCL, Infosys, Happiest Minds Tech, IndiGo, SpiceJet, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum, and more</a>

Top stock movers — HCL Tech, Dr Reddy’s, HSIL, Tata Power, Dhanuka Agritech, Grasim and more

<ul><li>National Bank for Agriculture And Rural Development (<keyword id="6360385" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="nabard">NABARD</keyword>) has announced a $100 million fund for <keyword id="6362513" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="startups">startups</keyword>. </li><li>According to reports, the new fund will look into equity investments in “asset-light, innovative, technology-led start-ups in its focus areas”. </li><li>India’s <keyword id="1366179" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Agritech">agritech</keyword> startups have been growing fast and securing quick investments in the past few years. </li></ul>India’s agritech and rural startups just got a huge boost with the government-owned National Bank for Agriculture And Rural Development (NABARD) <a href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/nabventures-launches-maiden-fund-to-back-agri-food-and-rural-start-ups/article27116329.ece">announcing</a> a $100 million fund for startups. Until now, NABARD had been instrumental in providing <keyword id="6356305" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="funds">funds</keyword> to startups through other funds. In January 2019, NABARD had announced the launch of NABVENTURES Ltd, which functions as its venture capital arm. According to <a href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/nabventures-launches-maiden-fund-to-back-agri-food-and-rural-start-ups/article27116329.ece">reports</a>, the fund will look into equity investments in “asset-light, innovative, technology-led start-ups in its focus areas” that is agriculture, food and rural development space. Agriculture is the most important contributing industry to the Indian economy, however, a problem that has persisted has been the lack of technologically sound advancements in the field. Farmers have had issues in various fields – dealing with the middlemen menace, storage of crops, surveillance etc. And here’s where agritech startups come in. Over the years, India has seen a growth in the number of agritech startups, which has also led to VCs and accelerator programs turn their focus to the sector, given that it caters to a large part of India’s population. This has resulted in agritech startups coming under the spotlight for investments and more. Recently, Ninjacart, an agritech supply-chain startup, got an $89 million funding in a Series C round from a marquee investor like Tiger Global. Now, with a focused fund coming in from the government’s NABARD, it will only boost the sector. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/blackbuck-raises-150-million-offers-employees-to-liquidate-stocks-upto-25/articleshow/69139508.cms">This Indian startup’s latest funding is also going to make its employees rich</a>

India’s state agricultural bank NABARD has a $100 million fund for startups

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A fund for agritech startup, inclusion of drones to boost Indian farming

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Agritech startup Vegrow raises $13 million Lightspeed, Elevation

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New Microsoft programme to empower agritech startups in India

IANS

Top stock movers — HCL Tech, Dr Reddy’s, HSIL, Tata Power, Dhanuka Agritech, Grasim and more

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India’s state agricultural bank NABARD has a $100 million fund for startups

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