Ghanaian agtech Farmerline raises $1.5M from Dutch investor Oikocredit

Farmerline has secured equity funding from Oikocredit in its second close of the pre- series A round. The total amount raised in the round is $14.4 million.

At a time when Farmerline is setting up shop inIvory Coast as it continues its expansion across West Africa the funding comes at a good time.

In order to ensure access to high-quality supplies, includingfertilizer and seeds, Farmerline works through agro-dealers, who are often the first point of knowledge for farmers.

Ghanaian agtech Farmerline to use new funding to strengthen its infrastructure, help farmers create wealth

The partner retailers use the startup's Mergdata, a proprietary artificial intelligence platform for supply chain intelligence, to digitize the farmers they serve, and to generate the data required to predict the demand of farm supplies and prevent stock-out. The amount of business expansion credit is determined by that data.

With the support of Oikocredit and our first-round funders, our distribution, logistics and financing services will continue not only inGhana but also inIvory Coast.

Farmerline is expanding its physical infrastructure like warehouses and distribution networks to make it a marketplace that allows the faster movement of supplies to and from rural areas. Farmers can access markets for better incomes with the help of the Logistics network.

Farmerline plans to strengthen its supply chain in order to reduce the cost of farming and increase the yield for farmers on the continent through the use of artificial intelligence.

It said that this investment is crucial because of the conflict in Ukraine and the high prices of fertilisers.

Farmerline claimed to have financed over 18 million dollars of inputs and crops through franchise shop alliances.

Last year it doubled its direct-reach to 79,000 farmers, and this year it is aiming to reach 300,000 farmers.

The effects of rocketing fertiliser costs on small farmers in Africa is clear. We invested in Farmerline to support those most affected by price fluctuations. Our investments in the agriculture sector are at the core of Oikocredits work as a social impact investor. We are happy to support the Farmerline Group.

The ARAF is one of Farmerline's equity investors.

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