Indian agri-finance startup ONO raises $1.2 million in funding

ONO, an agri-finance startup building a data and AI-powered platform for India's post-harvest agricultural supply chain, has raised $1.2 million in a pre-Series A funding round.

The round was led by Aeravti Ventures, with participation from angel investors and Tremis Capital. This is Aeravti Ventures' second investment in ONO, having also led the company's earlier seed round.

ONO was founded by Rama Rao Kancharapu and David Pokuri and is focused on improving credit access, reducing operational inefficiencies, and enabling long-distance market linkages for agricultural small and medium enterprises across India.

The problem ONO is addressing

India's agricultural supply chain, particularly in the post-harvest segment, has historically operated with limited structured data, weak trusted networks between buyers and sellers, and poor access to formal credit for farmers and agri traders. Commission agents, transporters, and traders working across long distances have few reliable tools to verify counterparties, assess risk, or access working capital quickly.

ONO said it has built a technology and data platform that sits across this ecosystem, providing real-time intelligence on pricing, volumes, logistics, and market behaviour to farmers and agri-SMEs.

The platform also enables faster payments, better price realisation, and reduced transaction risk for everyone involved in the supply chain.

"The agricultural supply chain continues to operate with significant inefficiencies due to a lack of structured data, trusted networks, and timely access to finance. At ONO, we are building a technology and intelligence layer for the post-harvest ecosystem that enables stakeholders to make faster, smarter, and more reliable decisions, and more importantly, get timely access to fair credit. With Aeravti Ventures continuing to back us in this journey, we are focused on scaling our lending and market infrastructure capabilities across India," said Rama Rao Kancharapu, who is also the CEO of ONO.

The startup claims to have facilitated over Rs 100 crore in co-lending and maintains a non-performing asset ratio of just 0.05%, a figure that compares favourably with standard agricultural lending benchmarks.

Beyond lending, ONO has also worked on reducing fraud and defaults in long-haul agricultural trade, where goods and money often move across hundreds of kilometres between parties who may not have prior relationships.

It operates across 12 states and more than 125 districts, serving over 1.3 lakh ecosystem participants including farmers, commission agents, traders, transporters, and buyers. The platform has more than 2,000 paid subscribers, has facilitated over Rs 200 crore in beneficiary payouts, and has enabled the movement of more than 25,000 metric tonnes of produce through long-distance markets, often covering distances of over 500 kilometres.

Rishabh Singh, Managing Partner of Aeravti Ventures, said, "ONO is solving one of the most critical infrastructure gaps within Indian agriculture, building trust, transparency, and financial accessibility across post-harvest supply chains. The company's ability to leverage data and AI to unlock market access and reduce inefficiencies at scale strongly aligns with our investment thesis at Aeravti Ventures. Having partnered with ONO since its seed stage, we continue to remain highly confident in the team's execution capabilities and long-term vision."

The funding comes after ONO acquired a significant stake in a non-banking financial company, which will allow it to deepen its lending capabilities and expand credit access for underserved agri-SMEs more directly.

The startup is also preparing for a larger Series A raise as it looks to scale its presence further across India.