March 2021 agricultural “platforms” in a digital era

A supportive ecosystem 
There is a healthy ecosystem supporting Indian tech start-ups, with over 250 accelerators, 1,500 investors, 55,000 tech start-
ups, and 26 unicorns. Among the incubators and accelerators, several are focused on agriculture specifically, such as ICRISAT, 
CIIE, and NAARM. Likewise, among the various investors, a number focus specifically on agriculture. Several start-up hubs 
have emerged in areas where a supply of technical talent exists (for instance, near Indian Institutes of Technology) alongside 
an ecosystem of mature tech companies and start-ups. Finally, there are many high quality publications regularly assessing the 
state of the sector in India, providing a basis for understanding and decision making. 
Fast increases to digital penetration 
There is a relatively high and fast increasing availability of digital infrastructure in India, including the growth of mobile phone and 
Internet access. For instance, high-speed Internet is becoming more available and accessible to rural populations, 57% of whom use 
the internet daily. This creates opportunities for agricultural tech start-ups to reach or facilitate access to rural communities using 
digital means.
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Anupam, A. and Saravanan, R. (2019). Agritech Startups:The Ray of Hope in Indian Agriculture, Discussion Paper 10. MANAGE-Centre for 
Agricultural Extension Innovations, Reforms and Agripreneurship, National Institute for Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE). 
Hyderabad, India; ThinkAg (2020). Ag-Tech in India: Investment Landscape Report 2020; Pahwa, A., Sailesh Rao, Aseem Madan, Ram-
prasad Putrevu, Swati Khurana, Swati Goenka, Divya Sinha, Harshit Mor (2020). Agritech – towards transforming Indian agriculture. 
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KENYA
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Kenya has just under 4% of Africa’s population and an agriculture sector which, while important in terms of employment and 
GDP contribution, is not vastly different from other African countries. Nonetheless, the country accounts for nearly 25% of 
agricultural tech start-ups in Africa. East Africa, with Kenya in the lead, is home to half of the headquarters of agriculture-relat-
ed digital solutions that are active in Africa and more than two-thirds of registered users. Over 100 agriculture-related digital 
solutions are present in Kenya and an estimated 20-30% of Kenyan farmers make use of at least one digital solution. Out of our 
profiled Digital Platforms in Africa, more than half are based in Kenya. We believe this to be primarily driven by three factors: