Complete Farmer, an end-to-end agricultural marketplace, has raised $10.4 million ($7 million equity and $3.4 million debt) in a million pre-Series A funding round to consolidate its efforts in the agricultural space.
The equity part of the funding round was co-led by The Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF) and Alitheia Capital (via its uMunthu II Fund in partnership with Goodwell Investments) with Proparco, Newton Partners and VestedWorld Rising Star Fund also participating. The debt financing was provided by Sahel Capital’s SEFAA (Social Enterprise Fund for Agriculture in Africa) Fund, Alpha Mundi Group’s Alpha Jiri Investment Fund and Global Social Impact Investments
Established in 2017 by Charles Ofosuhene, Desmond Koney, Zoussi Ley, Complete Farmer is an end-to-end digital agriculture platform that provides industries with an easy way to cheaply source for quality farm produce and individuals anywhere in the world with a convenient way to own a farm by eliminating middlemen and farm produce aggregators.
In the beginning, the firm functioned as a contractor, managing farms on behalf of its clients. However, in 2018, the company took a significant step by introducing a crowdfunding platform that allowed users to invest in sustainable farms while also keeping an eye on agricultural operations. This innovative approach earned Complete Farmer recognition as a finalist in the TechCrunch Battlefield Africa competition and garnered them an impressive $150,000 in pre-seed funding from MEST Africa.
Complete Farmer continued to make strides with its innovative solution until the onset of the pandemic. Like many crowdfunding businesses, they faced operational disruptions that led to challenges related to scalability and payment defaults.
As a result of these challenges, the company decided to make a strategic shift towards adopting an aggregator and marketplace model, similar to the one successfully employed by Thrive Agric, another former crowdfunding platform. Also investor enthusiasm for agricultural crowdfunding was waning.
According to CEO Desmond Koney, this marketplace model draws from Complete Farmer’s extensive experience both as a farm contractor and as a crowdfunded platform. By capitalizing on its established relationships with thousands of farmers from previous iterations of the platform, Complete Farmer recognized that it could efficiently fulfill customers’ crop needs. This shift in strategy proved fruitful as the Accra-based agritech company successfully raised $2.2 million in seed funding from a consortium of investors and accelerators, including Ingressive Capital, EchoVC, Samurai Incubate, Kepple Ventures, and Norrsken Accelerator.
Complete Farmer offers two primary solutions aimed at serving producers and agricultural commodity buyers. The first solution, CF Grower, is centered around the needs of African farmers. CF Grower supports these farmers in optimizing their agricultural productivity, gaining entry to global markets, and improving their overall living standards. It achieves this by providing precision farming tools and implementing data-driven cultivation protocols.
Conversely, CF Buyer targets global buyers by offering them a reliable and convenient channel to access agricultural commodities tailored to their specific requirements. Through this platform, buyers gain access to an extensive network of qualified producers. They can seamlessly procure quality-certified products via a simplified digital process, and closely monitor the progress of their orders from initiation to fulfillment. This transparency empowers buyers with full control over their procurement activities.
Complete Farmer faces competition from several other players in the market, including Khula, Twiga Foods, and Farmerline.
Complete Farmer reports that it has successfully united more than 12,000 farmers across five key regions in Ghana. The platform has also managed the cultivation of over 30,000 acres of land, facilitating the export of agricultural commodities to Asia, Europe, and other global destinations. This has contributed significantly to the reduction of post-harvest losses.
In terms of financial performance, the six-year-old agritech company, which charges a 30% commission on profits generated from trades between farmers and buyers, achieved an annual revenue of $2.8 million by the end of 2021. Remarkably, it closed the year 2022 with revenues amounting to $5.3 million and is currently on track to reach $7.5 million in the current year, as stated by Koney
Introducing new product lines is a strategic move aimed at diversifying revenue sources, a crucial step for Complete Farmer to align with its revenue projections. Koney has revealed that the agritech company is actively developing an embedded finance product to simplify direct remittances from buyers to farmers. Additionally, they are working on a vendor platform designed to enable farmers to acquire fertilizers and essential commodities, enhancing the efficiency of their farming operations. These innovations are expected to contribute significantly to the growth of Complete Farmer’s business.
