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Ask me Almost Anything with Krishna Kumar, CEO, Cropin Technology

November 15, 2017

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Cropin provides Farm-Businesses/Growers with farm management software and mobile apps, which enable them to do connected, and data driven farming. It allows them to take advantage of real time data and insight from farms (an accurate view of their operation throughout the entire growing season) and to improve financial, operational and agronomical aspects.Their solution includes mobile apps, crop analytics, sales insights and warehouse integration.

Krishna Kumar is the Founder and CEO of Cropin. From leaving his job at GE to to digitizing over 2.1 million acres of farmland and enriching the lives of 500,000 + farmers, he has come a long way. Cropin have been funded by Singapore-based early-stage fund Beenext and Denmark’s Sophia Investment ApS & Ankur Capital etc. He is here with us till Saturday (18th November) to answer your questions regarding agritech, funding and the Indian scenario.

Go on, post your question in the comments below.

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Hello Sir, 

I am a student currently doing my MBA and would like to have my own startup soon. But compared to something like finance or health, startup in agriculture sounds like a huge risk. Would you agree with my view? Also, did you a social motive along with the profit motive when you started cropin? 

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Hi  krishna kumar,

we are in dairy solution side looking for accelerator funding  and some references, my pitch deck has been uploaded in same platform Dairymate is the name of startup, thank you. 

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In addition to Prasad Babu's comment, the question is more about acessibility than affordability. Many small and marginal farmers do not have access to internet and apps like we do in urban India. Are there any strategies in place to make it more accessible to them?

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I am unsure of the timeline since when this technology has been in operation and would be interested to know how this has been helping farmers improve farming systems. Has it also been helpful in reducing post-harvest losses as it provides warehousing solutions, if i understand corectly?

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Hi Nataraj, the questions go for moderation and will show up once approved. You can start asking 

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Hello Sir,

Can your product  be  used by small farmer with small land ?  if yes how? if no then any plans for future?  

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Hi Alok, Good to know that you are looking to start your venture in agriculture domain. I don't see doing Ag-startup is anymore risk if there is a right model. In last 4-5 years lot of startups came in ag-domain and are doing well. There is a larger ecosytem built around it in last few years. Ag-industry, Goverment & VCs are actively looking for innovation in this space and ready to partner. You can read more about new thing happening around agtech on agfunder (Rich insight). This will help you to think through what allready happening and where would you like to play a role.  When I started my venture it was with motive to create a large impact in underserved segment by solving one of the word biggest problem to produce feed food fibre in sustainable way and build a profitable business around it. 

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Hi Prasad Babu,

To my mind it not about the cost or premimum solution, its about value one brings to the table. Farmer has always paid for the value otherwise many MNCs serving farmer providing their services or product wouldnt have servived. If solution is directed towards the farmer then we need be sure that there is enough value for him to pay. In many cases where farmers are not able to afford a tech solution, intemediaries, goverments, development agencies, Agribusinesses  have played a role to take the solution to farmer doorstep and pay for it on behalf of the farmer- because there is a shared value getting generated for both the end. There are many such live examples. Low cost solution will definately create distruption and will increase adoption among farmers on large scale.

For example today you don't need to by a harvestor or a leveller as a farmer but you can avail such service on request and there are may more examples

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Dear Chetail Chhabra,

We are working in Bihar and MP with very marginal farmers by creating agroprenuer model to hepl them fight climate change along with goverment and world bank. Agroprenuer is a village women farmer who is trained on smartphone apps with internet and inturn she supports fellow farmer in that village. There are similar models where progressive farmers or company agronomist are supporting group of farmers using smartphone, apps and internets. But days are not far where everybody will have access to smartphone and internet with service roll out like Jio. With such ecosytem penetration and reach will increase tremendously which will bring farmers to mainstream busineses.

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Hi Krishan Kant, Yes in coming days small farmer can also avail such service using their smarthone. Currently the penetration of smartphone and internet is low but in next3-5 years you will see such applications and apps getting used in villages. We are allready providing apps directly to our partner network farmers if they have smartphones and internet

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Dear Natraj,

Great to know about your dairy startup. There are many early stage and VCs who are funding dairy startups. You can talk to Ankur Capital, Pinoneering venture, Omnivore etc.

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Hi,

I have been following developments in the sector closely. The problem is most of the farmers can not afford these modern technologies. Do you think the tech solutions have to be low cost or is there a market for premium solutions as well? 

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