ImpactAlpha, Mar. 15, 2018 – WeFarm has secured $5 million for a small farmer peer-to-peer network in East Africa.
The UK-based company has built an SMS-based network for farmers to discuss problems and share advice. It hopes that will help small farmers find solutions to problems such as how to fight a crop disease or learn best practices for growing a particular crop. It has 660,000 users in Kenya and Uganda.
Small farmers are responsible for 70% of the global food supply and spend over $400 billion on farm inputs and other services each year, WeFarm said in a statement. “Yet, they are often ignored by the global markets, services and leaders creating solutions to agricultural problems.”
WeFarm’s $5 million seed round was led by True Ventures with backing from the Norrsken Foundation, LocalGlobe, Accelerated Digital Ventures, and founders and executives of Skype, WordPress and Blue Bottle Coffee. The startup launched in 2015 and raised $2 million in 2016.
