Industry News

31/07/25

FAO and JICA back Orange to digitalise Côte d’Ivoire’s rice sector

FAO and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) are providing USD 1.2 million to support Côte d’Ivoire’s rice digitalisation efforts. The announcement was made during a meeting between FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The main benificary of the investment is local mobile opearor Orange, which runs the Orange Agritech digital platform. The solution was developed to automate tasks across the rice value chain, from production to marketing reducing inefficiencies in both production and distribution.

Orange Agritech is a B2BC solution developed by the operator that offers to agribusiness and farmers in the rice sector real-time weather and water data, digital tools for managing inventory and equipment. It also facilitates digital payments to farmers including on on feature phones and entry level smartphones.

In 2022, the Agricultural and Management Company (AMC), one of the country’s largest rice processors, integrated Orange Agritech into its operations to improve farmer services, including access to inputs and financing, and streamline logistics. With this new funding, Orange aims to expand the platform to the entire rice ecosystem.

05/08/25

World Bank joins MADE Alliance to push digital and financial inclusion for African farmers

The World Bank has joined Mastercard and African Development Bank (ADB) as co-chair of the Mobilizing Access to the Digital Economy (MADE) Alliance. MADE’s main objective is to extend digital services that leverage secure, affordable, high-quality broadband and data connectivity, to 100 million individuals and businesses in Africa over the next ten years. The programme is initially focusing on agriculture. Through partnerships with local banks, the programme aims to provide three million farmers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria with digital identities and access to high-quality seeds and agricultural inputs. Expansion is planned to Uganda, Ethiopia, and Ghana.

Since its May 2024 launch, the alliance is supporting the digitalisation of payments for 50,000 sunflower farmers in Tanzania. In Kenya, alliance members have rolled out affordable digital skills training for 13 farmers’ cooperatives, reaching approximately 10,000 farmers and their communities. Additionally, the Kenya National Farmers’ Federation is receiving funding from the ADB to strengthen the capacity of 250,000 Kenyan farmers, improving their bankability and access to finance.

11/08/25

Spotlight: Former CEOs’ arrests intensify scrutiny of Indonesian agritechs

Scrutiny on Indonesia’s agritech sector has intensified recently as senior executives from two of its former star startups have been detained in high-profile legal cases.

At the end of July, TaniHub’s former CEO Ivan Arie Sustiawan, a former director, and an executive from MDI Ventures, a Telkom-backed investor, were taken into custody amid an ongoing investigation. Once a leading B2B platform connecting farmers to markets, TaniHub’s downfall began with its lending arm, TaniFund, which was ordered to shut down in April 2024. Authorities allege it used venture capital funds to cover loan defaults, a violation for a licensed P2P lender. Since its founding in 2015, TaniHub raised USD 94.5 million, according to Crunchbase.

In early August, the eFishery co-founder and former CEO Gibran Huzaifah was detained alongside two senior colleagues. Once Indonesia’s first agritech unicorn, and the world’s only aquatech unicorn, the startup collapsed in early 2025 following revelations of dual accounting, nominee companies, and fabricated transactions spanning years.

These scandals have cast a shadow over investor confidence in Southeast Asia’s agritech sector, raising questions about governance, transparency, and due diligence. Still, 2025 has not been without bright spots. A couple of local players secured substantial funding, signalling that scalable agritechs are still emerging in the region. As reported by ArisTechia, in March B2B2C agritech Elevarm raised USD 4.25 million in a pre-Series A round, while in April Eratani closed a USD 6.2 million Series A.

07/08/25

Analysis: AgBase report highlights fewer deals, bigger rounds, and a shifting African agritech ecosystem

AgBase, a knowledge platform on digital agriculture in the Global South, has published its H1 2025 State of AgTech Investment in Africa Report. Building on its inaugural State of AgTech Investment in Africa 2024, AgBase finds that while the number of agritech and foodtech deals fell in the first six months of 2025 compared to previous years, median investment sizes rose as larger funding rounds became more common. This suggests that while early-stage activity may be cooling, investors are concentrating resources into fewer, more mature ventures with proven models and clearer paths to scale.

The report highlights a shift in the geography of African AgTech investment. Kenya remains the leading destination for agritech funding, but its share of total capital has declined as other ecosystems gain traction. The country is still the top agritech investment destination in Africa, but its share of total funding fell. Notably, South Africa matched Kenya in total funding for H1 2025 at USD 18 million each, while Ghana, Tunisia, and Nigeria also secured significant inflows.

The study higlights how concessional and impact-oriented funders participated in almost every deal above USD 2 million, outnumbering commercial venture capital investors for the second year in a row. Grants surged to their highest share yet, driven by awards like Bayer Foundation’s EUR 10 million (USD 10.4 million) grant to Pula Foundation announced in January this year. Pula aims to provide tech-enabled insurance coverage for 10 million smallholder farmers in Africa and South Asia by 2030.

Most mid-stage funding rounds (USD 250K– USD5 million) came from DFIs and impact-first investors, underscoring persistent private capital hesitancy in this “valley of death” stage. This heavy reliance on mission-driven capital suggests confirms that while Africa’s agritech sector is growing, it has yet to fully attract risk-tolerant commercial capital at growth stages.

The report also notes a growing share of women-led and mixed-gender teams securing deals, thouhg funding still disproportionately flows to male-only founding teams. A greater number of founders have studied in Africa, signalling a stronger base of homegrown talent.

29/07/25

Satyukt launches satellite-powered sugarcane app for Indian farmers

Indian agritech startup Satyukt Analytics has unveiled SFGC (Smart Farm Grant Challenge), a mobile application designed to empower smallholder farmers and other stakeholders in the sugar value chain. The app is the direct outcome of Satyukt winning the Smart Farm Grant Challenge, an initiative backed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to support impactful, tech-driven solutions for improving sugarcane harvesting.

SFGC delivers real-time insights on crop health, soil moisture, and optimal harvesting timelines, leveraging satellite data and machine learning. Currently, the platform is undergoing iterative development, field testing, farmer onboarding, and performance tracking.

Founded in 2018, Satyukt offers a suite of SaaS products spanning digital advisory services and agri-digital financial solutions. The startup is backed by Nabventures, the venture growth equity fund supported by NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development).