Banking platform DGV raises $3.1 mn in pre-Series A round from Info Edge Ventures and Omnivore

Digivriddhi Technologies Private Limited (DGV), a neo-banking start-up focused on the dairy industry, announced on November 16 that it had raised $3.1 million in pre-Series A round from Info Edge Ventures and Omnivore. Through its assisted digital platform, DGV has chosen to focus on India’s 75 million dairy farmers, providing them access to formal banking and world-class financial services.

DGV is currently working with some of India’s leading co-operatives dairy unions and their respective milk cooperative societies and farmers. It provides them access to payments, liabilities, and asset products through its partnership with the Federal Bank.

India’s $145-billion dairy sector is amongst the largest in the world. It contributes over 4 per cent of GDP, 25 per cent of AgriGDP, and engages over 100 million stakeholders.

Ragavan Venkatesan founded DGV in 2019 and is its CEO. He was previously part of the founding team at both IDFC Bank and NPCI, where he played a critical role in building and rolling out Aadhaar Payment Services. He was also instrumental in building the Government of India’s Direct Benefit Transfer Platform.

DGV’s senior management team includes Mukesh Ranjan, Ravi Singh and Sorabh Mehta.

Commenting on the investment, Ragavan Venkatesan, said, “We are delighted to welcome Info Edge Ventures and Omnivore to lead our first institutional round. Info Edge Ventures’ experience in scaling digital marketplaces, and Omnivore’s deep experience in Agtech, will allow us to create an unmatched full-service platform for dairy farmers.”

Kitty Agarwal, Partner, Info Edge Ventures, said, “Despite the huge size of this industry and its importance to our livelihoods, dairy farmers lack access to basic financial products and services and even struggle to access cash conveniently. DGV is building a neo-banking platform for these dairy farmers by digitizing the entire payment stack using Aadhaar, National Payment Switch and Micro ATM technology.”

Jinesh Shah, Managing Partner, Omnivore, said, “We would be hard-pressed to find an entrepreneur better suited, or equipped, than Ragavan to take on a problem of this magnitude and complexity.”

Shalini Warrier, Executive Director & Business Head - Retail, Federal Bank, said, “Federal Bank's partnership with DGV is another step towards expanding financial inclusion in the country. Under this arrangement, we are providing API Banking services across payments, liabilities, and relevant asset products to dairy farmers in Gujarat.”