Mahindra FES acquires 100% stake in MITRA Agro Equipments

Mahindra FES acquires 100% stake in MITRA Agro Equipments
Founded in 2012 by Devneet Bajaj, MITRA Agro Equipments is the Indian market leader in high-precision orchard sprayers and a trusted brand for farmers growing fruits like grapes, pomegranates and oranges

Mahindra & Mahindra’s Farm Equipment Sector (FES) today completed its acquisition of MITRA Agro Equipments (MITRA) by increasing its shareholding from the existing 47.33 per cent to 100 per cent, making it a wholly owned subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M). As part of this acquisition, Mahindra fully bought out Omnivore’s stake in the business.

Founded in 2012 by Devneet Bajaj, MITRA Agro Equipments is the Indian market leader in high-precision orchard sprayers and a trusted brand for farmers growing fruits like grapes, pomegranates and oranges. The company has more than tripled its revenue from FY18 to FY22 and now employs over 200 people and has successfully started exporting its products globally. Post-acquisition by Mahindra, MITRA plans to accelerate the expansion of its product portfolio alongside its network in India and overseas markets.

MITRA was an early entrant in the then-nascent Indian agritech startup ecosystem. Omnivore, a venture capital firm that pioneered agritech investments in India, was one of its first institutional investors. MITRA understood farmer needs and aspirations and built machines to automate labour-intensive farm jobs and save resources.

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Speaking on the acquisition, Hemant Sikka, President of the Farm Equipment Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra, said, “Mahindra aims to grow its farm machinery business by 10x in five years and is making rapid progress towards achieving this goal. The additional share purchase in MITRA would aid Mahindra’s growth and expansion into the growing horticulture market.”

Dev Bajaj, Founder of MITRA, said, “After 11 years of building a passionate team, more than 10 innovative products, and a radical rural sales strategy, the journey of exiting MITRA to M&M is gratifying. I am thankful to the MITRA team and Omnivore for staunchly backing the vision of improving Indian agriculture with innovation.” Dev is now the Chief Strategy Officer of Dream Sports and heads one of India’s largest CVC funds, DreamCapital.

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Mark Kahn, Managing Partner, Omnivore, said, “10 years ago, Dev traded the American dream for a future building the Indian startup ecosystem, starting with MITRA. Through Mahindra’s expansive dealer network, MITRA’s cutting-edge technology will now be accessible to horticulture farmers across India. As the first institutional investor in the startup, this is a very proud moment for Omnivore and for agritech in India.”

Mahindra is ushering in a second revolution in mechanising India’s farmlands across crop cycles. By establishing three global technology Centres of Excellence in Japan, Finland and Turkey, Mahindra is on a mission to identify and adapt innovations relevant to bettering Indian agriculture.

With a presence in over 50 countries and as the world’s largest tractor manufacturer, Mahindra’s Farm Equipment Sector has been consistently working towards meeting the changing needs of the agriculture sector.

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