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AgNext Technologies, the Chandigarh-based agritech startup, has raised $21 million in Series A round of funding led by Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI), with participation from existing investors Omnivore and Kalaari Capital.

The funding round provided a 5X exit to a-IDEA, an agribusiness incubator managed by the National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), according to a statement from the company. AgNext, which was founded in 2016, had received seed funding from a-IDEA.

AgNext plans to use this capital to enter into newer commodities and international markets such as the Middle East, Europe, and South Asia. The funds will also be used for the development of its tech platform Qualix, to enable quality-driven trade transactions across the food value chains. Besides, it plans to establish a new office in Abu Dhabi.

On the funding received, Taranjeet Singh Bhamra, Founder and CEO of AgNext, shared, “In the era of agriculture 4.0, the demand for better market linkages and secure food trade is driving deeper penetration of technology in agricultural ecosystems. As first movers in the agricultural deep-tech space, we have established market leadership in India through our novel AI-based technologies that assure quality-based food trade across value chains.”

According to AgNext, the lack of quality assessment solutions leads to more than $90 billion in losses globally in the agriculture trade. This results in lower profit margins for farmers and higher pricing for consumers. Current quality analysis processes are manual which make them costly, time-consuming, and lower accuracy.

AgNext claims it solves the quality analysis problem through its proprietary, in-house technology products. Through a mix of AI, ML, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced data analysis, AgNext provides rapid food quality assessment through its full-stack ‘Qualix’ platform.

On the funding into AgNext, Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI) fund commented, “With its unique deep-tech solutions, AgNext is poised to transform the agri value chain at a global scale. We were very impressed by the depth of technological innovation shown by the company in building its AI platform.”

AgNext has physical as well as chemical analysis solutions applicable across a wide basket of commodities, including grains, spices, tea, milk, and animal feed. It has clients such as ITC, Godrej, NAFED, Verka, etc.