Agri finance and technology veterans join forces with Pioneering Ventures to co-create a farmer-centric agri finance and value chain services platform

Agri finance and technology veterans join forces with Pioneering Ventures to co-create a farmer-centric agri finance and value chain services platform
 

Samaaru, a portfolio company of Indo-Swiss agriculture platform Pioneering Ventures, aims to transform agri financial and value chain services with a technology-led open ecosystem model.
 
Mumbai and Zurich, 30th June 2020
 
Together with leaders from agri finance and technology industries, Pioneering Ventures has launched Samaaru, an innovative tech-enabled service provider that empowers small-scale farmers and rural entrepreneurs with farm advisory, supply chain services, market access and affordable finance (via lending institutions).
 
The Indo-Swiss agricultural platform Pioneering Ventures is delighted to announce the launch of Samaaru, a farmer-centric agri finance and value chain services platform co-created with accomplished agri finance and technology industry leaders. The company recently started operations in West and South India, providing a closely integrated range of services across the food value chain.
 
Michael Andrade, Co-founder, MD and CEO of Samaaru, said: “We are on a mission to make farmers prosperous and successful, thereby making farming a desirable occupation. With a combination of hi-tech and hi-touch, Samaaru offers farm advisory, warehousing and market access to small-holder farmers and our value chain partners together with affordable finance via our partners. We are setting up a tech-enabled open ecosystem business model and warmly welcome agri entrepreneurs, food companies, financial, technology and impact partners with a commitment to rural India to join us.”
 
Michael elaborated: “Sandeep Raju and I are delighted to launch Samaaru’s operations together with our highly accomplished leadership team, which brings together deep experience and capabilities in technology, finance and agribusiness. We are particularly proud to have Deepak Goswami, Dinesh Poduval and Rochan S join us as C-level co-founders in this journey.”
 
Sandeep Raju, Co-founder and Director, further emphasized: “Michael’s pioneering work in this sector has been truly inspirational for all of us to come together to prepare Samaaru’s launch over the last year. During this time, we have set up a technology foundation and roadmap to enable financial, farm and value chain innovation at scale. Our investments in building a farm-to-offtaker Samaaru Stack for dairy, crops and finance are de-risked by deep sectoral expertise and a robust demand book.”
 
Ron Pal, Founder and Chairman at Pioneering Ventures, underlined the transformative potential of the venture, “Samaaru uniquely addresses one of the largest under-served rural markets in the world. The unfulfilled needs of over a hundred million small-holder farmer families offer a tremendous market and impact opportunity that can be addressed efficiently at scale. With Francisco Fernandez, Co-founder at Pioneering Ventures, we have one of the world’s most visionary and experienced fintech entrepreneurs in this field on board. Especially in the context of recent policy reforms, we look forward to moving the needle on this sector, delivering affordable finance and sustainable incomes for the farming community.”
 
About Samaaru India
 
Samaaru is a farmer-centric agri value chain services platform on a mission to make famers in India prosperous and successful, thereby making agriculture a desirable occupation. We are a close-knit team of agribusiness, finance and technology sector specialists with a passion for product innovation and efficient execution at scale. We currently serve farmers and rural entrepreneurs in West and South India from our offices in Pune, Bengaluru, Jaipur and Mumbai with support from our lending partners.
To know more, visit www.samaaru.com and write to us at contact.us@samaaru.com.
 
About Pioneering Ventures
 
Pioneering Ventures is a nutrition and tech platform company based in India and Switzerland. We are on a mission to reinvent the Indian food ecosystem to provide people with healthy food in a sustainable manner. We strive to generate superior financial and social returns for all our stakeholders through knowledge and data driven transformation from farm to fork. This is done by re-engineering the way food is produced and supplied and empowering and connecting all partners in the ecosystem.
To know more, visit our website. To get in touch, please write to us at info@pioneering-ventures.com.