Network of Agri-startups, Venture Financiers and Incubators (NAVI) in an initiative steered by the CII National Council on Agriculture which is aimed at Agri startups for dialoguing with Venture Financiers, Incubators and Mentors. It will provide an exclusive platform for encouraging agri-entrepreneurs to Pitch, Present and Promote their ideas.
The new face of Indian agriculture is technology based entrepreneurship supported by incubators and venture capitalists. Perhaps the need to connect research with adoption of technology and step down from big box solutions have set the stage for ideation, incubation and adoption of technology at individual and smaller group levels.
Focus has been on the problem solving quotient of the technology and its viability on ground and scope for scaling up. Various technologies, be it related to hydroponics, smart machineries, precision agriculture or ICT solutions or market linkage, access to information, and crop advisory, are being rapidly adopted across value chains and geographies. It is heartening to observe that the best talent within India and beyond are venturing into this space, thereby creating the right competition and footprint.
A lot of momentum is set by public private partnerships with ICAR, leading agriculture universities, IIT, and IIM playing a pivotal role in identifying and incubating technologies and private venture capitalists and incubators financing and providing the much needed support at the nascent stage. There is scope for strengthening technology adoption at the field level and reaching the right solutions to less serviced areas. For this, connecting technology developers and users and intermediate entities is most critical.
NAVI will Offer:
- Pro Bono consulting for developing business plans, setting up systems etc.
- Pre committed Mentor hours
- Agri (government, industry, academia, experts) Round tables
- E-promotion of ideas on CII-FACE website, newsletter and other relevant communication material
- Facilitating technical resources