Agri startup Eggoz raises Rs 2.5 cr seed funding from angel investors; to focus on growth, expansion plan

When startup funding has seen a pause in the times of COVID-19, egg producer and agri-tech startup Eggoz has raised Rs 2.5 crores as part of its seed funding to fuel its growth and expansion plans. The rapid global economic slowdown, coronavirus lockdown of 1.3 billion people and an exodus of venture capital are testing a startup community that has quickly become one of the world’s biggest, raising a record $14.9 billion last year. A group of the top venture firms, including US groups Sequoia and Accel, warned startups this month that it will be “very difficult” to raise financing anytime soon, accordin_g to_ Reuters. In March 2020, startup funding dropped by over 50 percent as compared to the previous month, according to a report in The Economic Times. Startup activity started on a weak note in Q1 2020, with angel/seed witnessing 136 deals worth $131.22 million and Venture Capital with 93 deals worth $1.85 billion (a five year low in Venture Capital funding). The quantum of deals across Angel, Seed, and Venture Capital has dropped by 8.4%, whereas in terms of value, it has decreased by 6.91% in comparison with Q1 2019, according to VC Edge, PTI said. The seed funding round saw participation of investors like Tracxn Labs, Angellist, Tri-Deep Capital, founders of Letstransport, and Angel investors along with existing investors — Narendra Sankar, Sunil Mishra, and Vishal Sharma. Uttam Kumar, an IIT Kharagpur alumnus and Eggoz founder, said, “Eggoz poultry farming is one of the most profitable and stable business to generate allied income for many marginal farmers as well as to fulfill protein enriched food requirement of the growing population.” Eggoz works with farmers under deep integration at several locations in North India, using cutting-edge nutritional engineering and technology to produce high quality and nutrition-rich eggs. Farms on the Eggoz platform are run with ‘high efficienc’ as the venture leverages smart technology and follows ‘best processes’, it said in a statement. [caption id=“attachment_8377991” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Co-founder of Eggoz. Pic courtesy: Eggoz[/caption]  India is the third-largest egg and fifth largest poultry producer in the world. The structure of India’s poultry industry varies from region to region where both organised and traditional systems of poultry farming are followed. While independent and relatively small-scale producers account for the bulk of production, integrated large-scale producers also account for a share of output in some regions. By 2050, it is expected that the population in India would increase by 34 percent. To fulfill the dietary recommended levels of the livestock products by Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) for a population of 1.7 billion people, the livestock sector should produce 306 billion eggs per annum. From the current level of production, the eggs have to increase by 4.7 folds respectively. Fulfilling the feed demand for this huge livestock from same resource base of land and water is going to be a huge challenge ( NIANP,2013). Abhishek Goyal, Founder, Tracxn Labs, “India egg supply chain is largely unorganized. There is an opportunity for a player to implement best practices in production and create a trust worthy consumer brand. We were quite impressed by the founding team passion to solve this market.” Eggoz has developed new farming model for small-scale commercial egg farming. With Eggoz technology and integration platform, farmers can rear flock sizes starting from 500 birds at affordable initial investment and less land requirement. With these novel efforts, Eggoz is working in line with government’s intention to double farmers’ income in order to make villages self-reliant for nutrition and livelihood. Sharing the vision behind Eggoz, Abhishek Negi, co-founder added, “India ranks low in global hunger Index but we can go beyond this issue if people have access to good quality eggs as it is a wholesome nutritious food available at an affordable price”. Founded in December 2017, Eggoz operates a network of egg poultry farm spread across Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. It is a full-stack egg producer using technology to produce high quality and nutrition-rich eggs. Eggoz farms are run with higher efficiency with smart technology and processes. The startup’s co-founders are Abhishek Negi, Uttam Kumar , Aditya Singh and Pankaj Pandey. Eggoz has so far sold over 2 crore eggs and has more than 1,00,000 birds under management.