India’s largest agri-tech enterprise, Samunnati is on a mission to create an open agri-network to unlock the trillion-dollar plus potential of Indian agriculture with smallholder farmers at the center of it. Staying true to its name, Samunnati stands for collective growth & collective prosperity for the agri ecosystem. Serving the entire value chain, Samunnati’s Agri Commerce and Agri Finance solutions enable affiliated Farmer Collectives and the larger ecosystem to be more efficient and productive through multiple technology enabled interventions and collaborative partnerships.

Aligned to the goal to strengthening agri ecosystem, Samunnati closely works with agri startups. With technology, a deep understanding of farmers and an open-sourced approach being the pillars of Samunnati’s interventions, a large number of Agri-Tech Companies and Start-Ups in Agriculture have collaborated with Samunnati.

Nutrihub TBI Hyderabad has recently organised a workshop on 31st January at Nutrihub Cohort-V startup along with Samunnati. Nutrihub is exclusive millets-based Agribusiness Incubator (R-ABI) under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana-Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR) scheme of DAC & FW of RKVY division is hosted at Nutrihub, ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad, Telangana.

Participants from Nutrihub

  • Mr. Srinivasan Bollam- Program Manager
  • Mr. Ranjith Reddy- Chief Business Manager

Participants from Samunnati

  • Mr. NV Ramana: Institution Building and team building
  • Mr. B. Gopalakrishnan : Agriculture Startup landscape in India and emerging opportunities
  • Mr. Jayottam Ganguly: Introduction to Samunnati and relevance with Climate Smart Agriculture; Saumnnati as an ecosystem enabler
  • Mr. PG Ganesh: Introduction to Samaarambh- Startup engagement platform of Samunnati
  • Mr. Sibadittya Baidya: Samunnati’s cohort of solutions with case study

Startup’s background

There were 46 startups in the Cohort-V batch who are selected for training from Nutrihub, the Technology Business Incubator hosted by ICAR- Indian Institute of Millet Research (IIMR), Hyderabad. They were all a new age startup into millet processing to manufacturer nutricereals, millet flours, chikkies, pizzas, rava, and other millet-based value added products. Also, there were few startups who manufacturer machinery for millet processing and value addition.

Startup Success Story

Nutrihub Incubation Program is designed to help Nutricereal startups grow in a streamlines fashion by providing them technology & business support, Technology Consultancy, Product Development, Mentoring and Networking, Training & Development and Infrastructure Support. As a part of training and development for startups, Nutrihub organised this event and during the event it was acknowledged by Mr. Srinivasan B, Nutrihub that one of their incubated startup named Bhagyanagar Foods and Beverages Pvt Ltd, who is into manufacturing /packing all type of groceries under the brand “VSR”, was looking for Market linkage in 2018, Samunnati enabled the startup in establishing market linkage in super markets and retail stores, facilitating it to become a profit earning company with annual turnover of about INR 5 Crore.

Currently, Bhagyanagar Foods is also into processing, manufacturing & marketing of Millets and its by-products including ready to cook products like Pasta, Vermicelli, Noodles, etc. along with Instant Mixes Made out of Finger and Foxtail millets, available at all the modern trade outlets like Metro, Dmart, Reliance, Wal-Mart, Spencer’s, Aditya Birla More, Ratnadeep, Spar Hyper, Hypercity, etc.