Mahindra & Mahindra Farm Equipment Sector (FES) has acquired an additional 52.67% stake in MITRA Agro Equipments Private Limited, making it a wholly owned subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M).
As part of this acquisition, Mahindra fully bought out Omnivore’s stake in the business, the statement said.
Founded in 2012 by Devneet Bajaj, M.I.T.R.A is the Indian market leader in high-precision orchard sprayers and a trusted brand for farmers growing fruits like grapes, pomegranates and oranges.
The company claims that it more than tripled its revenue from FY18 to FY22 and has a team of 200 people. Post-acquisition, M.I.T.R.A plans to accelerate the expansion of its product portfolio alongside its network in India and overseas markets.
M.I.T.R.A was an early entrant in the then-nascent Indian agritech startup ecosystem. Omnivore, a venture capital firm that pioneered agritech investing in India, was one of its first institutional investors. M.I.T.R.A understood farmer needs and aspirations and built machines to automate labour-intensive farm jobs and save resources.
Hemant Sikka, President of the Farm Equipment Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., said, “Mahindra aims to grow its farm machinery business by 10x in 5 years and is making rapid progress towards achieving this goal. The additional share purchase in M.I.T.R.A would aid Mahindra’s growth and expansion into the growing horticulture market.”
Dev Bajaj, Founder of M.I.T.R.A, said, “After eleven years of building a passionate team, more than ten innovative products, and a radical rural sales strategy, the journey of exiting M.I.T.R.A to M&M is gratifying. I am thankful to the M.I.T.R.A team and Omnivore for staunchly backing the vision of improving Indian agriculture with innovation.”
Mark Kahn, Managing Partner, Omnivore, said, “Ten years ago, Dev traded the American dream for a future building the Indian start-up ecosystem, starting with M.I.T.R.A. Through Mahindra’s expansive dealer network, M.I.T.R.A’s cutting-edge technology will now be accessible to horticulture farmers across India. As the first institutional investor in the start-up, this is a very proud moment for Omnivore and for agritech in India.”
Source @Indianstartupnews
