DeHaat Acquires Regional Farm-Input Startup Helicrofter to Empower Farmers

DeHaat, a full-stack agritech platform, has acquired Helicrofter, a regional agri-input marketplace, for an undisclosed sum. According to a company statement, the latest acquisition will help DeHaat expand its footprint in Maharashtra.

Helicrofter, founded in 2020 by Siddhartha Choudhary, has over 2,000 agri-input retailers and 30 sellers across Maharashtra and annual revenue of Rs 50 crore.

"At DeHaat, we've created a crop-agnostic, farmer-first model." We have consistently grown our network by 35-40% month after month, and this acquisition will solidify our presence in Maharashtra and, by extension, the Western region, which forms a major agri-cluster. DeHaat's micro-entrepreneur network in Eastern and Central India has grown to 4,000 over the years. "With the addition of Helicrofter's network, we will now add a variety of prospective micro-entrepreneurs from Western India to this list," said Amrendra Singh, Co-founder of DeHaat, in a statement.

DeHaat serves over 7 lakh farmers in North India, assisting them in gaining access to over 3,200 agricultural inputs, as well as AI-based customized crop advisory on pest and disease management, delivered via mobile app and call centres.

DeHaat, which operates in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan, also aggregates over 30 crops from their network of farmers and directly supplies them to over 600 commodity bulk buyers, including retail chains, e-commerce players, FMCG giants, and SME food processors.

"Helicrofter is thrilled to be collaborating with DeHaat. This union will undoubtedly help us add more value to farmers and other stakeholders by strengthening our offerings and gaining access to DeHaat's diverse and high-quality services, as well as network access "Helicrofter's Founder, Siddhartha Choudhary, stated.

The company, which raised $115 million from investors led by Sofina and Lightrock in October 2021, also acquired another startup FarmGuide, which assisted it in integrating satellite-based crop advisory solutions for farmers. Investors in DeHaat include Prosus Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, RTP Global, FMO, and Omnivore.