Kita Agritech raises $3M Seed funding to digitize agri supply chain

Kita Agritech, an agricultural technology startup based in the Philippines, has announced raising $3 million (about PHP 170 million) in seed funding, the largest seed round in the country so far this year.

The oversubscribed funding round was co-led by Gentree Fund, the investment vehicle of the Sy Family Office, and Singapore-based early stage investor Altara Ventures.

Kita, founded by Marc Concio and launched in early 2020, digitizes the end-to-end agriculture supply chain through the use of data. It supplies fresh fruits and vegetables to some of the latest hotels and restaurant chains in the Philippines.

Kita initially started operating in a 20-square-meter dining room with the founder himself sometimes driving his mother’s old pick-up truck to make the deliveries. At present, Kita now has three warehouses and a fleet of cold chain-enabled delivery trucks servicing restaurants and hotel chains in the country.

The startup said it will use the fresh funds to digitize the agriculture supply chain through big data and AI. 

Concio said he and his team noticed that while their company has grown rapidly in one year on the demand side by winning bids from B2B clients, there is more they can do to help the farmers on the supply side to improve pricing and generate income. 

“Much of the initial growth and success in Kita can be attributed to having a very good team in place and focus on cash flow and profitability. We chose Altara Ventures and Gentree Fund to co-lead our round to help us scale and grow in the next phase ahead,” Concio, who is also Kita’s CEO, said.

The Philippines is an agricultural economy and a key contributor to regional agricultural supply chain market size and growth. It is the second largest producer of fresh vegetables in Southeast Asia with more than 5 million tons produced annually.

“The Philippines has an intricate agricultural supply chain, extending from the farmers to the consumers, which makes tackling problems in this space challenging. We believe Kita has figured out a playbook for establishing a more efficient agricultural supply chain by digitizing and unlocking market access for farmers,” said Gentree Fund Vice President Wirin Eiamphoklarp.