Gates-Backed Ricult Raises $1.85m to Improve Smallholder Farmer Profitability with Digital Tech Platform
Summary
The biggest reason why microfinance institutions havent been able to alleviate poverty in developing markets is that they only focus on one part of the problem by providing credit, says Usman Javaid, CEO of Ricult, a fintech data platform and marketplace for smallholder farmers. Im a firm believer that you need to address the entire value chain.Smallholder farmers in various developing markets largely rely on middlemen and loan sharks to access credit but also for other services including purchasing inputs and selling their crop, says Javaid. These middlemen charge exorbitant rates of around 200% per annum, and its a very exploitative and abusive relationship that can get very rough and even involves murder if farmers fail to pay them back.Ricult, which just raised $1.85 million in seed funding and is backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aims to do just that with a digital platform emulating the services these middlemen provide but transparently and at reasonable rates.The platform, thats accessible from any type of telephone, assesses a farmers creditworthiness when they register using predictive psychometric tools and credit scoring algorithms. Using weather, satellite, soil analytics and other geospatial data streams, Ricult uses machine learning algorithms to map spatial variations in crop and soil conditions to accurately suggest inputs that ensure optimal crop growth.Ricult also provides farmers with the information they need to help them grow more successfully such as pest attack and weather forecasts.One of the biggest problems in developing countries is that if you give a farmer cash, he will use it for anything and everything but not agriculture, says Javaid. It is planning a Series A round next June.The startup was founded by three MIT graduates and Javaid, who has held marketing roles at Telenor, the fifth largest telecoms company, as well as food and agriculture businesses including Nestle.