Catalyst Labs has raised $30.0M in seed funding from Sequoia. The Bangalore-based startup, founded 19 months ago, focuses on aggregating farm supply and connecting it to bulk buyers.
Catalyst Labs uses basic technologies - missed calls, SMS, and a multilingual, Aadhaar-based mobile app - to link farmer groups with demand-side buyers. The company says it has built relationships with farmer groups, associations, and movements with a combined active member base of 60,000 farmers, and works with consumer groups representing more than 35,000 member families, along with exporters and organized retail buyers.
