Investing in Agritech Startups to Drive Inclusive Growth

Agritech funding is rebounding, but without affordable smallholder-focused tools and supportive policies, its promise of inclusive growth risks falling short.

Farming now faces tighter climate swings, shrinking arable land and rising food prices, so the search for faster and smarter tools is urgent. Agritech entrepreneurs have stepped into that gap and investors are warming to the opportunity again.

AgFunder’s Global AgriFoodTech Investment Report 2025 shows that worldwide agrifood-tech funding reached about US $16 billion in 2024, only four percent less than the previous year. Although the figure is still far from the record sums of 2021, the sector’s contraction is slowing and investor confidence is beginning to return.

Africa is part of that rebound, albeit from a smaller base. AgFunder’s latest regional report records US $145 million flowing to African agrifood-tech ventures in the first half of 2024, a slight year-on-year uptick that suggests the worst of 2023’s slump may be over. Ghana’s Farmerline illustrates how quickly capital can translate into inclusive impact: the firm secured US $20 million in pre-Series A funding in May 2024 to scale its voice-based advisory services, input financing, and produce-traceability tools for smallholders across West Africa.

Behind the deal flow lies a market that is expanding at double-digit speed. Analysts at The Business Research Company forecast global agritech revenues rising from US $30.63 billion in 2024 to US $34.58 billion in 2025—an annual growth rate of almost thirteen percent. This growth is powered by technologies that narrow the information gap between small farmers and larger market players, reduce post-harvest losses, and unlock new credit channels.

inclusive growth materialises when these innovations reach the last mile. SMS pest alerts in local languages warn a tomato grower before blight spreads through an entire field. Digital yield records supply cooperatives with collateral that finally convinces banks to extend credit on reasonable terms. Cold-chain startups create rural jobs—couriers, pack-house managers, and IoT technicians—while slashing post-harvest losses.

Further, investors succeed when startups design for affordability and trust. Pay-as-you-go hardware, village-level agent networks, and revenue-sharing keep adoption costs within reach of smallholders. Blending concessional debt or guarantee facilities with equity de-risks the earliest stages and crowds in larger commercial rounds later. Obviously, transparent impact metrics and open data standards strengthen credibility for founders and funders alike.

Equally important, public policy must clear the path. Reliable rural broadband, free access to weather and soil datasets, and smart input-voucher programmes amplify private solutions. To that end, basic digital-skills training fosters confidence among first-time smartphone users, while stable rules for drone mapping or gene-edited seeds prevent technology lock-outs.

Agritech will not solve every challenge in food systems, but well-targeted capital can speed up gains that markets, governments, and farmers already seek: higher yields, fairer prices, decent rural jobs, and lower climate risk. Each investment that puts smallholders at the centre strengthens the wider economy. Inclusive growth, in this sense, is not a slogan. It is the compound return on backing ideas that treat farmers not as beneficiaries but as partners in innovation.