July 4, 2020
Pioneering Ventures has launched ‘Samaaru’ which is an innovative tech-enabled service provider. Through loaning institutions, ‘Samaaru’ empowers small-scale farmers and rural entrepreneurs with farm advisory, supply chain services, market access with affordable finance.
Michael Andrade, co-founder, MD and CEO of Samaaru, said: “We are on a mission to make farmers prosperous and successful, thereby making farming a desirable occupation. With a combination of hi-tech and hi-touch, Samaaru offers farm advisory, warehousing and market access to small-holder farmers and our value chain partners together with affordable finance via our partners. We are setting up a tech-enabled open ecosystem business model and warmly welcome agri entrepreneurs, food companies, financial, technology and impact partners with a commitment to rural India to join us.”
Sandeep Raju, co-founder and director, stressed, “Michael’s pioneering work in this sector has been truly inspirational for all of us to come together to prepare Samaaru’s launch over the last year. During this time, we have set up a technology foundation and roadmap to enable financial, farm and value chain innovation at scale. Our investments in building a farm-to-off taker, Samaaru stack for dairy, crops and finance are de-risked by deep sectorial expertise and a robust demand book.”
Ron Pal, founder and chairman of the Pioneering Ventures, emphasized the transformative potential of the venture saying, “Samaaru uniquely addresses one of the largest under-served rural markets in the world. The unfulfilled needs of over a hundred million small-holder farmer families offer a tremendous market and impact opportunity that can be addressed efficiently at scale. With Francisco Fernandez, co-founder at Pioneering Ventures, we have one of the world’s most visionary and experienced fintech entrepreneurs in this field on board. Especially in the context of recent policy reforms, we look forward to moving the needle on this sector, delivering affordable finance and sustainable incomes for the farming community.”