Eruvaka Technologies, an India-based maker of diagnostic equipment for aquaculture farmers, has attracted an undisclosed amount of investment from Omnivore Partners, a corporate venturing unit of Godrey Agrovet (part of Tyson Foods). Omnivore Partners, which focuses on agriculture and food technology companies in India, invests in early stage deals ranging from $500,000 to $2.5m. It also does follow-on investments. It manages a $50m fund. According to Mark Kahn, Omnivore’s venture partner, the investment unit led the series A round for a significant minority stake.
According to news reports, including one that Omnicore cited on its web site by India news site, VCCircel/Techcircle, the capital raised from this round will be used to hire more people in its sales team and increase its reach. A portion of the fund will also go towards its R&D efforts to create new products, including optimisation of seed consumption.
Other recent deals for the agriculture sector investor includes a significant minority stake in north-east India-based company, Arohan Foods, the country’s reportedly first pork integrator.
Omnivore was attracted to the growth proposition of the manufacturer’s Eruvaka Floating Buoy, which measures in real time the water parameters that are crucial for shrimp growth and survival.
The buoy is connected to a mobile software application, which has various interfaces for the aquaculture farmer including SMS, voice, Android and web apps. The app enables farmers to monitor pond data. For example, when the water quality drops, an automatic real time voice alert is sent to farmers’ smartphones, which will help them in reducing the risk of shrimp mortality. It also offers a cloud analytics platform that suggests farmers to adjust the feed based on water quality data. Intelligent algorithms control the aerators automatically, which then reduces power bills for farmers.
In a VCCircle news report, Kahn said that Eruvaka had been selling its patented Floating Sensor Buoy across coastal Andhra Pradesh since May 2013. The firm is planning to expand to other regions in India in FY2015, and is also exploring export opportunities in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
Eruvaka is Omnivore’s seventh investment in the country and the third this year.
In India, around 165,000 hectares is currently under aquaculture cultivation and there is potential for 1.19 million hectares of viable aquaculture in the country, according to Omnivore. The investor also estimates that aqua cultivation, which is concentrated in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal, Odisha and Tamil Nadu, will see new growth as agriculture technology advances. Seafood exports in fiscal year 2012-13 hit $3.5bn, growing 23% from a year earlier. Shrimp comprised 24.6% on a volume basis and 49.6% on a value basis, Omnivore has estimated.