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Repository of research about existing players providing funding support to FPOs for collective assets.

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  • Avanti Finance - 100% digital platform. It provides a white label service to finance providers to collect data, co-create products, and to facilitate transactions. (loan/credit)

    • They worked with SEWA in Bihar to create a credit product that included granularity in its purpose, such as “starting a vegetable stall.”

    • They worked with Ekgaon in Madhya Pradesh to create a credit product for ag financing for individual farmers or working capital loan for FPOs. Ekgaon developed community-based aggregators to start value addition.

  • Lendingkart - non-banking financial company provided no collateral loans for individuals, MSMEs/SMEs, and loan products for women. (loans)

    • Women’s World Banking found that Lendingkart’s AI credit model does not exhibit gender bias for loan approval, terms, or repayment rates.

    • MSME / SME loans can be used for operations (buying plant and machinery or opening at a new location), or for working capital and general cash flow. No mention of FPO as MSME/SME.

  • Maanaveetaya - Lends to microfinance institutions and development projects, with extensive guardrails regarding sustainability and inclusion.

    • They finance cooperatives and producer orgs (loans)

    • Criteria include benefit to disadvantaged people, economically viable project with appropriate management & leadership, contribute to the advancement of the community, preference to women beneficiaries who can participate in decision-making, ecological parameters

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Non-banking multi-service institution institutions that provides financial services

  • Sammunati - Provides collective loans, aggregation, market linkages, and advisory services to farmer groups. (loans, infrastructure loans)

    • Supports FPOs in sourcing bulk inputs + loans for FPOs to aggregate in bulk.

    • Catalytic infrastructure loan for FPOs to invest in warehouse machinery, equipment, processing units, etc.

    • FPOnEXT product includes pre-sanctioned loans, assessment via grading tools, and access to crop and weather alerts, market prices and call center. Plus tech knowledge via agri universities + KVKs.

  • Dehaat - AgTech start-up providing end-to-end solutions to farming communities, including AI -enabled technologies. Work in Bihar, UP, Odisha and WB in India, service 650,000 farmers. (credit, insurance)

    • Credit via microfinance for input purchases in partners with leading agro financing institutions

    • Insurance product development in partnership with leading agro insurance companies

    • Other services include soil testing & health card, inputs, outputs (harvest and market access), yield forecasteing, analytics, advisory helpline

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  • NABARD + Agricultural and Rural Development Banks (ARDBs) - government lending institutions (loans, grants)

    • FPO support via Producer Organization Development Fund: loan-linked grant for promotion, capacity building & market interventions, and grant assistance

  • https://www.pmfby.gov.in/ - Gov’t scheme for crop insurance for farmers (insurance). Not a lot of details; seems to be for individuals.

Social Investing, crowdfunding, crowdlending

  • PlusPlus from Solidaridad (refer to in-depth notes from Ashu Plus Plus) - crowdfunding via individual investors to specific ag projects. 400+ investors have invested 540,000 Euro) (loans)

    • The projects are agricultural in nature and involve loans to procure equipment (pumps, tractors, etc.), access to assets (seeds, inputs), or increase production (buy more raw goods from farmers). Recipients include coops and small businesses.

  • GiveDirectly - (refer in call notes GiveDirectly ) Crowdfunding via individual investors to a village at a time that is in poverty. Unlike PlusPlus or Kiva, individual investor cannot choose loan recipient as to prevent biases. Since 2009, delivered $550M+ in cash directly to 1.25 million families living in poverty. Operations in Kenya, Rwanda, Liberia, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, DRC, Uganda, the United States, and Yemen. (loans)

    • No India or Ethiopia operations FYI

  • Kiva - Crowdfunding via individual investors. Loan, not donation. 77 countries, 1.9M lenders and over $1.6B in loans given. (loans)

    • Ag loans focus on assets for individual farmers (buy cattle, feed, etc.). Some loans are to small groups (example: $3000 USD to a group in Senegal to support buy/sell cattle).

    • No India loans made.

  • Rang De - Indian P2P lending platform with mission to provide low cost/affordable credit. Funded by angel investors. Not a crowdfunder. Non-banking financial company. (loans)

    • 90% of loan recipients are women. Loan recipients are entrepreneurs & farmers.

    • Investors can invest in funds (example: Akshayakalpa Fund to support an organic dairy farm enterprise.

  • EthicHub - Spanish crowd-lending social enterprise that connects small farmers with financing needed to work their land and sell their crops. (loans)

    • Currently in 3 countries only (Mexico, Brazil, Honduras) and have supported 21 communities

    • Recipients are organizations (cooperatives, community groups)

    • Big lenders campaign includes lending on high return projects & investment in specialty coffee

    • Investors can invest in the Ethix Token - buy protection from investment and also governance decision role in EthicHub

  • Root Capital - provides finance to agricultural enterprises - $1.6B in 20 years loaned to ag enterprises worldwide. (Refer to notes from call with Root Capital Root Capital) (loans)

    • Model includes affordable financing to underserved enterprises/SMEs/coops, enterprise capacity to access and manage credit, blended financing models for early-stage + risk mgmt, and demonstrate proven models to strengthen the ag finance sector.

    • Not in India or Ethiopia; yes in Kenya

    • Also work in climate action & gender equity

  • Milaap - Indian crowdfunding platform. Includes campaigns on rural development and agriculture. (donation)

    • Example: A campaign asked for funds = Rs 500 would create 1 acre of viable horticulture (drip irrigaqtion, land prep, saplings).

    • Lending to farmer groups is available, including group buy of inputs.

  • Catapoolt - Indian crowdfunding platform. Seems to be more for development of new ideas. (donation)

    • Rongo Reaper campaign focuses on developing a crop trimmer.

  • Give India - Fundraising platform for NGOs, medical emergencies and social causes.

    • Center for Sustainable Agriculture uses it to raise forms to benefit 5000 farmers and 25 FPOs under the product brand Sahaja Aharam. They provide call center, technical assistance, IT platform with end-to-end farming assistance, organic certification, training, and a FPO hub, but no financing.

  • FarmFundr - US based farmer-owned crowdfunding platform focused on specialty crops operations in the US. Investors can profit from crop sales and also from land appreciation.

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  • TechnoServe - development NGO with presence in India (tech assistance, links to finance)

    • Walmart-funded project will facilitate access to finance and post-harvest/storage solutions for FPOs. Will impact 25-30 FPOs and 25,000 farmers (50% women) in AP and Uttar Pradesh.

    • Other projects in India seem to be about FPO strengthening + technical assistance and women FPO empowerment, but without clear information if this includes access to finance for collective assets.

    • Refer to notes from Coffee Initiative Technoserve Coffee Initiative

  • IFPRI Picture Based Crop Insurance project - insurance for individual farmers via smartphone photos that verify damages/losses to crops in a low cost manner and that can integrate crop advisories. (insurance)

    • Testing in India, Kenya and Ethiopia!

    • Can facilitate insurance, seeds or credit, on smallholder farmers’ productivity, welfare and resilience, while paying attention to mechanisms through which the technology can reduce—rather than aggravate—inequity and gender gaps.

    • Partners include BISA, Dvara, KALRO, Acre Africa, CABI, EIAR, and various universities, as well as https://www.hdfcergo.com/

      • PMFBY scheme is for financial support to farmers

      • Seems to be for individual farmers, not collectives/FPOs

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  • natural resource capital: land, water, trees, genetic resources, soil fertility

  • physical capital: agricultural and business equipment, houses, consumer durables, vehicles and transportation, water supply and sanitation facilities, and communications infrastructure

  • human capital: education, skills, knowledge, health, nutrition; these are embodied in the labor of individuals

  • financial capital: savings, credit, and inflows (state transfers and remittances)

  • social capital: membership in organizations and groups, social and professional networks

  • political capital: citizenship, enfranchisement, and effective participation in governance.2

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