Consumer-focused venture capital firm Sixth Sense Ventures has joined the cap table of Eeki Foods, bolstering the agritech startup's plans to diversify crop varieties and expand into new geographies.
The VC firm has invested nearly Rs 60 crore ($7 million) in Eeki Automations Pvt Ltd, which operates Eeki Foods, through its Sixth Sense India Opportunities III Fund. The investment, a combination of primary capital infusion and a secondary purchase, makes Sixth Sense the largest stakeholder in the company after the founders, VCCircle has learnt.
With this investment, Sixth Sense now holds around 20% stake in the Rajasthan-based company, a person familiar with the matter said. Based on rough calculations, Eeki Automations’ valuation now stands around Rs 320 crore.
“This funding will help us diversify across geographies and crop types. With Sixth Sense’s consumer insights, we aim to reframe how India thinks about nutrition, freshness, and food origins,” said Abhay Singh, co-founder of Eeki Foods, in a statement. Singh added that the company has crossed the 100-acre cultivation mark in Rajasthan’s extreme climate and is now looking to scale its agritech model across India.
In 2022, Eeki secured $6.5 million in Series A funding led by General Catalyst. A few months earlier that year, the startup had raised $2 million (around Rs 14 crore then) in a round led by Avaana Capital, with participation from Better Capital and Icebreaker VC. In 2021, Eeki secured capital from GSF Accelerator and individual investors in a pre-Series A round.
Founded in 2018 by IIT Mumbai alumni Abhay Singh and Amit Kumar, Eeki Foods claims to grow residue-free Indian staple vegetables using its patent-pending plant growth system. The company says the system uses 90% less water while delivering 10x higher yields. Eeki Foods’ technology allows a farm's climate to be controlled, enabling year-round cultivation unaffected by seasonal variations.
In FY24, the company’s net revenues reportedly grew 54% to around Rs 41 crore.
