Chennai-based B2B cross-border agri-commodity procurement platform Hectar Global on Wednesday (July 12) said that it has raised $2.1 Mn in a seed funding round led by  Powerhouse Ventures.

The funding round also saw participation from WEH Ventures, All In Capital, Indian Silicon Valley, and angel investors Anant Sarda and Adhish Ladha.

The startup will use the funding to expand to newer geographies, and strengthen its digital infrastructure. 

Commenting on the development, Hectar Global cofounder and chief executive officer (CEO) Srinath Srinivasan said, “We have maintained a strong emphasis on operating profitably right from our inception. Our internal accruals have taken care of all operating expenses so far and we are primarily viewing this capital infusion, and future equity rounds, to rapidly expand into new geographies, and strengthen our digital infrastructure.”

“Trading in agri-commodities requires deep domain expertise, given the inherent complexities in product qualities, price fluctuations, documentation, and freight.  We feel that the team’s experience in cross-border trade and their ability to build technology products holds them in good stead to create significant impact in this industry,” said General Partner at Powerhouse Ventures Kshitij Golwalkar.

Founded in 2021 by National University of Singapore alumni Srinivasan, Sibhi Kumaran, and Aswath Balaji, Hectar Global is a B2B ecommerce platform that enables wholesalers and retailers to procure agri-commodities in bulk across the globe. The platform claims to digitise and improve the efficiency of cross-border supply chain processes by leveraging data models and machine learning algorithms. 

With offices across the globe in Singapore, Dubai, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, Hectar Global claims to have so far shipped more than 50,000 metric tons of agri-commodities to countries across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. 

While the cross-border agri-commerce segment is still marred by regulatory hurdles and involvement of multi-state stakeholders, the space presents an interesting opportunity for homegrown budding startups looking to go global and solve bigger challenges. 

This has largely been led by a lucrative market opportunity that the global agriculture ecommerce market presents. As per a report, the space was valued at $30.68 Bn in 2022 and is projected to grow to a size of $50.63 Bn by 2030.

In the recent past, a clutch of Indian new-age tech startups offering cross-border products have gained spotlight and secured big ticket capital from investors. 

Last month, homegrown cross-border payments solutions startup XFlow picked up $10.2 Mn in pre-Series A funding from Square Peg, Lightspeed, among others. In May, another Indian cross-border logistics platform Agraga secured INR 70 Cr in a Series A funding round led by IvyCap Ventures. 

Back in April, venture capital firm Iron Pillar also closed a $129 Mn cross-border fund that would invest in homegrown SaaS startups.