Mahindra bets on Swiss agritech start-up

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd has agreed to invest 4.3 million Swiss francs ($4.3 million or Rs 30 crore) in Switzerland-based agricultural-technology company Gamaya SA. The company said in a stock-exchange filing that Gamaya will support the company's farm equipment business by developing technology solutions. Mahindra said it is taking an 11.25 per cent share in Gamaya by subscribing to 300 common shares and 30,469 Series B preferred shares. The Indian company led Gamaya's Series B funding round in which the start-up raised a total of 7.5 million Swiss francs ($7.5 million). Dutch venture capital and growth-equity investor ICOS Capital and some other investors also participated in the round, Mahindra said. Rajesh Jejurikar, President of the farm equipment sector at Mahindra, said: “With agriculture increasingly becoming technology-intensive, we at Mahindra are investing in future-ready technologies to provide complete solutions to the global farming community. “Our strategic association with Gamaya will enable us to develop and deploy next-generation farming capabilities such as precision agriculture and digital farming technologies.” Incorporated in 2015, Gamaya provides crop-specific technology solutions. It has advanced capabilities in hyperspectral imagery analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning which captures and interprets imagery to give farmers information about the state of their fields and crops.