Harvesting Farmer Network, an India-based provider of an agriculture technology platform, has raised US$4 million in fresh funding. Social Capital, a US-based technology investment firm, led this latest investment round, which marks the Indian tech firm’s first institutional investment.

The newly-raised fresh capital funds will enable the Indian technology firm to reach more than 120 million smallholder farmers across India, as well as explore opportunities in the country’s vast rural markets.

Ruchit G Garg, HFN founder, and CEO said in a released statement, “At HFN, our goal is to help farmers realize their full potential by reducing the plethora of inefficiencies across the agriculture value chain. Simple and widely-available technologies like WhatsApp and Twitter have allowed us to create massive data-driven farmer co-operatives, which allow farmers to negotiate better rates for farm inputs and more competitive prices for outputs.

“Our farmer-first approach has enabled us to build unique trust with our farmer-partners, giving us a strong foundation for long-term growth. With this new backing from Social Capital, we will be able to accelerate our growth and further scale our platform as we look to give India’s 120 million smallholder farmers the opportunities they deserve.”

Harvesting Farmer Network (HFN) was founded by Ruchit Garg during the COVID-19 pandemic. This Indian technology firm was created to help farmers increase their income by providing them with a collective bargaining platform.

Using the HFN platform, Indian farmers are able to buy high-quality and affordable farm inputs, access financial services such as loans, as well as sell their crops to local and international customers. Currently, more than 3.7 million farmers in India are connected with the HFN platform over various digital platforms across every state in India.