Data-driven agricultural inputs supply company, iProcure has announced that it has closed a $10.2 million Series B funding round that raised debt and equity from a diverse group of international investors.
The Series B round funding which was led by I&P saw participation from Novastar Ventures, British International Investment (BII), and Ceniarth. The fund will support iProcure’s expansion into Uganda and Tanzania, as well as the launch of a credit offering for agro-retailers to purchase supplies on credit.
Niraj Varia, iProcure’s new CEO and former partner at Novastar Ventures said that the funding round will help iProcure not only help expand its service provision in these countries but also support its retail partners to earn more while being able to manage their sales.
“In addition to bolstering our existing operations with more warehouses and delivery vehicles, this funding will expand iProcure’s product offering to include credit services and a new POS system for agro-dealers to better forecast their inventory needs and reduce pilferage within their shops. This will help our 5,000+ partner retailers increase their earnings and better serve the hundreds of thousands of farmers that depend on each shop.”
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About iProcure
The Kenya-based agro-tech company is helping to revolutionize traditional agricultural supply chains in East Africa by developing its own distribution infrastructure connecting major agricultural input suppliers directly to local agro-dealers via its proprietary distribution technology system.
By cutting out the multiple levels of middlemen in the traditional agricultural supply chain and providing technology-driven insights on supply levels and price, the company ensures the availability, quality, and delivery of critical agricultural inputs like fertilizers and seeds at up to 25% discount from prevailing market prices.
The franchise is also enabling the lowering of food costs and lessening the climate impact of agriculture by ensuring that smallholder farmers can plant their crops on time and achieve higher crop yields while using less land.
“iProcure playing a pivotal role in Supply chain” – Partners
Asif Noorani, Senior Investment Manager of Impact Investing at I&P, said the company is helping to solve a major issue in the agricultural sector across Africa which is supply, thereby making it easy for farmers to supply their products to their targeted market.
“iProcure is playing a pivotal role in transforming the agricultural sector in Africa by digitizing the agro-retailer networks and making last-mile agricultural inputs distribution more efficient. At its core, iProcure is improving farmers’ access to genuine and affordable agricultural inputs by consolidating the region’s fragmented agricultural inputs sector. These processes ultimately lower the cost of food production and improve food security.”
Abel Boreto, Associate Investment Director at Novastar Ventures, a global VC working from the entrepreneurial centres of Lagos, London, and Nairobi, added that “iProcure has grown 23X in the five years since Novastar invested. This speaks to the demand for its services, which now reach over 1,000,000 Kenyan farmers.
Novastar remains a stalwart supporter of iProcure’s growth and market entry into Tanzania and Uganda where they will no doubt bring immense value to the agricultural sector there.”
Sara Taylor, Head of SME Funds at British International Investment also said that “iProcure solves the problem of connecting smallholder farmers with the right inputs at the right time. BII is excited to partner with iProcure to help build a more inclusive, resilient, and efficient supply chain for agricultural inputs in Africa.”
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