Agritech firm nurture.farm has launched its incubation programme - Catalyst - to help agri-tech start-ups sustain themselves and expand further.
Catalyst will help agri-tech start-ups collaborate with key stakeholders across the agricultural ecosystem, gain capital for sustenance, test their products or solutions at scale, and gain access to infrastructural, knowledge and human resources. The programme will offer its incubatees a wide spectrum of support to enable them and accelerate their growth journey, the company said in a statement.
The incubation programme focuses on nurturing growth stage, pre-revenue, seed-funded, or angel-funded start-ups. It intends to support, collaborate and champion these start-ups as they break new ground. By partnering with nurture.farm, the start-ups can benefit from its experience, tap into their rural network, leverage industry connections, and the goodwill the company has garnered over time.
Dhruv Sawhney, Business Head & COO of nurture.farm, said, “nurture.farm has built digital highways to connect the heartlands of India by building robust technology platforms, agri e-commerce marketplaces, market linkages, supply chain networks, advisory services, financial solutions, and shared economy models. The need of the hour is for the industry to come together, pool resources, exchange information, and share learnings to foster growth and scale quickly.
As we look at the various problems in the agri industry, we realise the need to pave the way for other agtech start-ups to drive innovation and change. These budding start-ups can leverage our ecosystem, test their solution offerings at scale to establish a product-market fit, and help solve challenges for farmers, the agri ecosystem, and the planet. The time to act is now, and our incubation programme ‘Catalyst’ is another step towards achieving the same. We need to start focusing on fostering sustainable agricultural practices and work to integrate technology in the sector to solve problems.”
Aspiring start-ups can apply for the programme on nurture.farm’s website. The company’s knowledge partners include organisations such as UPL, NPP, Advanta, and Decco. An experienced panel of experts from the agricultural industry will review each application, mentor start-ups, and help them grow. The programme will accept entries until March 31, 2023, the company said.