When IIT-Kharagpur alumni Tauseef Khan and Nishant Vats Mahatre began Gramophone in 2016, agritech was still a nascent sector in India. 
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Agriculture was carried out in traditional methods, many farmers in India were denied of connection, and a huge bulk of farmlands in the nation stayed unblemished by the contemporary agri trade. 
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Tauseef, who &#x 2019;d had stints at agri-focussed VC funds like Omnivore Partners and Aspada Investments, was skilled with the concerns pestering the farming sector, which contributes 17-18 percent to India &#x 2019; s GDP. His co-founder Nishant, too, had experience in agri investing and seeking advice from. 
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Gramophone Co-founders Harshit Gupta, Tauseef Khan, Ashish Rajan Singh, and Nishant Vats Mahatre
With 160 million hectares of arable land, India is the world &#x 2019; s second-largest farming market after the United States, according to Bain &Company. Crop yield and farmer earnings still stay low.
Tauseef and Nishant thought that innovation might bring a modification by getting rid of info asymmetries in the farming system, and making farming more rewarding, foreseeable, and efficient. 
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This ended up being the starting approach of Indore-based Gramophone. 
 0; They likewise trapped Harshit Gupta and Ashish Rajan Singh as co-founders.
Also ReadThis MeitY-backed deeptech start-up utilizes IoT sensing units to keep an eye on&farms&and enhance crops Bringing tech-based agronomy to farmers
Gramophone constructed a smart farming platform that offers farmers crop advisory, agronomy recommendations, vibrant weather condition and cost updates, knowings on crop illness, and suggestions on agri inputs and equipment to assist them prepare their sowing and harvesting cycle much better.
The farmers simply need to type in standard details like crop type, date of sowing, and the size of farmland for Gramophone to toss up actionable insights on crop and soil.
The start-up likewise supplies assistance on what nutrients to contribute to a crop, what crop illness to secure from, soil management methods, finest costs for agri inputs, and so on
Gramophone &#x 2019; s Krishi Mitra app works as the point of gain access to for farmers. Even those without smart devices can get in touch with agri specialists and agronomists on Gramophone through a missed-call system. 
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Tauseef Khan, Co-founder and CEO, Gramohone
Co-founder and CEO Tauseef informs YourStory,
&#x 201C; Agronomy is among the most important elements since client stickiness depends upon that. Our internal engineer figures out criteria like soil, weather condition, crop type, and their connection. The insights are customised to the farm level, and the platform can make human-like interventions in the crop cycle. &#x 201D;
Not just this, however to make it possible for additional ease of usage, Gramophone likewise permits farmers to send out an image of their crop on WhatsApp to ask for inputs from agri specialists. The platform utilizes sophisticated image acknowledgment innovation to procedure farmer questions and toss up appropriate info. 
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Tauseef includes, &#x 201C; We &#x 2019; re likewise allowing remote soil screening through farmers and sensing units can get the whole soil map and specs on the app. &#x 201D;
Essentially, Gramophone acts as a farmer &#x 2019; s pocket tutorial. 
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While tech-based crop advisory is one part of Gramophone &#x 2019; s organisation, the other is a mobile-led agri market, which links farmers with traders and suppliers of agri inputs in addition to with fellow farmers through a social media.
The farmers get access to a vast array of inputs and executes, consisting of seeds, fertilisers, nutrients, pesticides, and farming devices. Gramophone ensures them the very best cost as it removes the intermediaries in the selling procedure. Farmers acquire a 20-30 percent expense advantage on its market over conventional mandis.
Not just has Gramophone handled to enhance the agri worth chain, however it has actually likewise increased farm yields. 
 0; The creators share that soya bean farmers in Madhya Pradesh have actually reported a 20 percent development in yield, and wheat farmers have actually seen yields increase by practically 40 percent after they began utilizing the Gramophone app.
Also ReadThisagritech start-up by a farmer &#x 2019;s boy links 4 million tractor purchasers with sellers, investors Operational development and company design
Gramophone &#x 2019; s development peaked 2018 onwards as the concentrate on agritech grew&in India with more financial investments streaming in.
It broadened its farmer network to 5,00,000 from 1,20,000 in the last 2 years, and saw a profits dive of 8X. 
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The COVID-19 intervention has actually expectedly impacted Gramophone, which is running at 15-20 percent capability. 
 0; However, with farming being among the &#x 201C; vital sectors &#x 201D; of the Indian economy, the start-up is predicting a 3X profits development in 2020. 
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&#x 201C; We began producing adequate need in May by transforming on-ground farm work to digital. Previously, there was some resistance from farmers to come online, however the pandemic has actually altered that, &#x 201D; the creator states.
A farmer who has actually taken advantage of Gramophone
At present, about 2.5 million acres of farmland is mapped on the Gramophone platform. While it is functional just in Madhya Pradesh, it aims to go into Rajasthan, and a couple of other neighbouring states by 2021. 
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Tauseef elaborates,
&#x 201C; Since 2019, we &#x 2019; ve embraced a micro-market technique comparable to the OYO design. There is a typical last-mile shipment network for 2 to 3 districts in a state. It assists cut expenses, makes each cluster operationally successful, and likewise permits us to go deeper in every location. Since farming patterns, weather condition, and soil types alter every 100-odd kilometres in India, this design makes sense. &#x 201D;
Gramophone states that it has &#x 201C; recorded &#x 201D; MP with 10 micro markets and physical retail &#x 201C; centers &#x 201D; that serve as circulation and need generation centres. These micro markets will triple as it broadens to other states. 
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Gramophone releases a paper for farmers.
Even though its Krishi Mitra app is complimentary, Tauseef exposes that farmers are significantly heating up to the concept of a subscription-based annual crop advisory and schedule. 
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&#x 201C; We likewise prepare to bring developments like soil-testing-as-a-service and farm financing from NBFCs, with choices like pay later on. Providing business can connect to farmers through our network. Information is the essential oil and we will keep developing surrounding linkages around it, &#x 201D; discusses the creator.
Gramophone likewise makes a deal charge from agri suppliers who offer their items through its m-commerce market.
The start-up has even &#x 201C; closed &#x 201D; collaborations with bulk providers of agri inputs. &#x 201C; These gamers are seeing a great deal of worth in the connection with farmers, &#x 201D; Tauseef states.
Also ReadHow a farmer &#x 2019;s kid is repairing the farm-to-fork supply chain with his agritech start-up Funding and the agri-market chance
Before institutional financing occurred, Gramophone wasbacked by a multitude of prominent angels, consisting of Ravi Garikipati, ex-CTO of Flipkart; Ajith Pai, Director of Green Earth; Sanjay Ramakrishnan, previous head of item&marketing at Flipkart, and others. 
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In August 2018, the start-up raised $1 million( about Rs 6.5 crore) in Pre-Series A financing led by Info Edge ( owner of task portal Naukri.com and property market 99acres. com ). 
 0; Later in April 2019, Info Edge invested an extra Rs 14 crore , taking its shareholding in Gramophone to about 33 percent. 
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Kitty Agarwal, Partner, Info Edge Ventures, stated in a declaration,
&#x 201C; We have actually purchased Gramophone since it has a fantastic group dealing with an ingenious idea. They are resolving issues of genuine India by assisting farmers in enhancing their incomes and awareness. &#x 201D;
In August 2019, the start-up went on to raise Rs 24 crore in a Series A round from Info Edge, Asha Impact, and Better Capital . Gramophone strategies to release the capital to construct its item, information science, and likewise scale operations throughout locations.
Also ReadHow agritech start-up Harabaag arranges the post-harvest supply chain utilizing micro-level crop information Kartik Desai, Executive Director of Asha Impact, specified, “ We were impressed by theGramophone group &#x 2019; s user-friendly understanding of clients &#x 2019; requirements, and by their capability to construct a scalable and extremely efficient platform. &#x 201D;
Gramophone is likewise wanting to raise a Series B round by the end of 2020.
The start-up takes on the similarity Plantix, AgNext, Fasal, AgroStar, Agri10x, and others in a quickly growing sector. India counts over 450 agritech start-ups, according to NASSCOM. These business are significantly empowering 150 million-odd farmers with data-led systems.
About 60 percent of India &#x 2019; s population is straight based on farming. 
 0; But regardless of the massive value of the sector, it stays an underserved and mainly untapped market, with huge sectors of farming land depending on manual labour.
Therein lies Gramophone &#x 2019; s chance.
Tauseef summarize with, &#x 201C; We &#x 2019; re on an objective to develop the future of farming by democratising understanding, constructing openness in deals, and producing a linked community for farmers &#x 2019; service. The objective is to alter the ad-hoc reactionary technique to farming to a prepared and preventive one. &#x 201D;
( Edited by Teja Lele Desai)
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Read more: yourstory.com