ThinkAg News:

Knowledge paper on Value Chain Finance, Announcement of the FPO Focused Roundtable, Inviting Applications to the Graft Aus-India AgTech Challenge And Welcoming New Members on the Platform

Publishing a Knowledge Paper on Value Chain Finance

ThinkAg’s first AgClinic on value chain finance on 9th May received an overwhelming response with over 80 participants from across the industry, finance, banking and startups. As promised, the ThinkAg team has put down a knowledge paper expanding on the discussions of the event. Here we cover the entire value chain for finance in agriculture from the farm to harvest to output. In recent years, we have seen the emerging fintech landscape building solutions using alternative data and filling the unmet credit needs of the urban consumer with the support of the existing eco-system. Our goal at ThinkAg was to build the bridge between existing eco-system for agri-finance with innovators aiming to disrupt financing in Indian Agriculture. 

AgClinic is a curated, closed-door workshop designed to engage partners to discuss and evolve solutions to pressing problems in the food and Agri value chains. The goal of this AgClinic was to stir discussion around increasing access to value chain finance with the lens of technology and innovation.  This event saw participation from innovators (AgTech& FinTech), financial service providers, corporates, and foundations/multilateral agencies that actively participate across the value chain and a number of learnings emerged. A knowledge paper expanding on the discussion has been published and you can check it out here

Rabo Bank's FPO Focused Agtech Roundtable

As mentioned before, AgLab- Acceleration, AgConnect-Knowledge Dissemination, AgClinic-Knowledge Development and AgInvest-Investments & Partnerships are the pillars of the ThinkAg platform. Enabling relevant partnerships to scale innovation is a key outcome for ThinkAg. Our member Rabo Bank in partnership with ThinkAg and ACCESS Foundation is holding a Farmer Producer Organizations roundtable in August. We expect to have leading organizations working FPOs, most innovative startups, development agencies and non-profits as part of the roundtable. The goal is to discuss challenges and opportunities in the FPO landscape in the country and to build partnerships between innovators and FPOs. 

The Graft Aus-India AgTech Challenge

The Graft Aus-India AgTech Challenge is the first cross-border AgTech in-market access program of its kind. Presented by T-Hub and Australian AgTech incubator Beanstalk, along with program partner Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad (RICH), Graft aims to bring in new technologies from across the Indian Ocean to help solve climate change issues affecting both Australia and India, such as soil health, water use efficiency, and waste management. 

Through the program, startups will be given access to the Australian market and have the chance to partner with corporates and localise their product. The program spans two months with informative sessions on how to approach the Australian market, along with a 10 day in-country sprint, in which you will have the opportunity to test your product. More information can be found here

ThinkAg's Founder and Director Mr Ram Kaundinya is one of the mentors for the initiative.

Welcoming New Members

Lastly, we want to welcome the StarAgri group to the ThinkAg network. StarAgri is one of Asia’s leading providers of post-harvest solutions. Since the company’s foundation in 2006, StarAgri has expanded with a variety of businesses to meet growing agribusiness needs across the globe. With leaders in the industry joining the ThinkAg network, it strengths our resolve to accelerate innovation in Food and Agriculture in the country.

Check out this space for more.