Farmworks, a Kenyan agrotech startup announced that it has raised $4.1 million in a pre-series A round to strengthen its data analytics capabilities, and use Artificial Intelligence to enhance production and influence planting and lending decisions.
The funding round was led by an existing investor, Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund. Other investors that participated in the round include Livelihood Impact Fund, Vested World, a number of family offices and angel investors.
Founded in 2020 by FarmWorks CEO Yi Li and Peter Muthee, Farmworks builds clusters of mid sized farms, while working with small-holder farmers to unlock Africa’s agricultural potential. It also establishes a direct linkage to local and global markets.
Farmworks provides tools and facilities to farmers to enhance their agricultural activities and increase their outputs. The startup avails farmers with farm inputs, and pest control services, and buys their produce for export, or local sales. It also loans farmers farming equipment like drip irrigation kits, and teaches farmers good agricultural practices, which it demonstrates on its own trial farms.
“We are transforming what they are farming, and their income by introducing higher value crops like sugar snaps and snow peas, and finding the market. So, we become vertically integrated from day-one in both the production and the distribution side of the business,” said Li.
FarmWorks operates an out-grower program that unites over 2,000 smallholder farmers. This initiative has facilitated the establishment of a supply chain network, guaranteeing the prompt delivery of high-quality produce. The organization aims to expand its network of contract farmers to various regions within Kenya, in addition to the two counties in the central region where it currently operates, boasting 16 collection centers.
