A Personalized Virtual Tractor Drive – a Unique Initiative by Mahindra Tractors

In continuation with celebrating 60 years of Mahindra Tractors, India’s No. 1 tractor brand launched a unique virtual tractor drive experience for customers to generate a realistic, life like personalized video of themselves driving a Mahindra Tractor.

Following the unveil of 'Desh ka Tractor: ‘Mitti se juda, Junoon se Saja', as a tribute to the Indian farming community, the virtual tractor drive was launched to foster a deeper connection with the brand, while capitalising on the celebratory mood of the festive season.

Partnering with Vitra.ai, a leader in AI-driven face augmentation technology for video personalization and translation, Mahindra Tractors aims to provide farmers with a personal "HERO MOMENT" of themselves alongside a Mahindra Tractor. Utilizing cutting-edge rich media powered by advanced machine learning and deep learning methodologies, Vitra.ai’s face augmentation technology enables Mahindra to deliver a first-of-its-kind seamless hyper-personalized video experience for customers, in Mahindra Tractors campaign videos.

To generate a personalised video, users need to go through a simple intuitive process by visiting the Mahindra Tractors website and upload a picture of themselves, their cell phone number and location, for the video to be delivered over WhatsApp, in regional languages based on their location.

Commenting on the initiative, Vikram Wagh, Chief Executive Officer – Mahindra Tractors, said, "At Mahindra Tractors, we are excited to present the first-ever virtual tractor drive, a brand-new initiative that represents our brand at the forefront of technology beyond just our products for a deeper connection with our new and evolving farmers. The new initiative is a testament to the power of AI, through which we have already enabled over 250,000 experiences.”

MeraTractor Secures ₹5Cr. in Pre-Series A Funding

• The new round of funding led by Vibhor Sahare, CEO & Co-founder ANS Commerce, Real Time Angel Fund and Digital Futuristic Angels Network
• The newly raised funds will be utilized as growth capital in increasing dealership business presence and enhancing technology to organize supply channels.

Meratractor, a Pune-based start-up and a ‘Phygital’ marketplace catering to farm mechanization products, has raised INR 5Cr. in Pre-Series A funding, bringing total capital raised to ₹7.25 Cr. post this round. 

(L-R) Sajith Abraham and Monak Gohel, Co-founders of MeraTractor

The funding round was led by Mr. Vibhor Sahare, CEO & Co-founder of ANS Commerce and Ex-CEO & Co-founder of Gaadi.com, Real Time Angel Fund and Digital Futuristic Angels Network. The newly raised funds will be utilized in increasing dealership network presence and enhancing technology to organize supply channels.

“We liked the holistic ecosystem approach that the MeraTractor team is using to solve structural issues in the used tractor space. It's a unique niche within the broader agri-tech space that can have a substantial impact in democratising tractor ownership” said the lead investors.

Agritech start-up, MeraTractor is trying to create an entire ecosystem to become a one-stop solution for all stakeholders engaged in the farm mechanization sector. Despite being asset-light, the company, which is a dealer-owned and company-operated model, controls the entire transaction and creates a sustainable business proposition for farmers, dealers, financiers and new tractor OEMs. Its dealership network is based out of rural locations which are slated to eventually become its gateway for tapping into the entire rural business opportunities related to the farm sector.

Commenting on the problem that the start-up is trying to solve, Sajith Abraham, Co-founder, MeraTractor, said, “There has been significant work in crop cultivation, in ensuring better yield, farm-gate solutions and a push from the government to improve farmer income. However, farm mechanization for Indian farmers, of which over 85% are smallholders, has been vastly missed out because of purchase capabilities. This creates challenges starting from discovery, financing facilities, and other key milestones in the process, making it difficult for an unassuming farmer. As a solution, MeraTractor is looking at bridging the gap between a smallholder farmer and access to farm mechanization / financial products.”

Highlighting the opportunities that lay ahead, Monak Gohel, Co-founder, MeraTractor, said, “The farm mechanization sector is on the verge of massive disruption and has created an environment for innovation that will help start-ups like MeraTractor address the inefficiencies in the sector. We believe farm power is an essential input in agriculture; hence, we are excited about the fundraise as it will help us to accelerate our journey in growing the network further by tapping into massive rural business opportunities that lie ahead.”

Some of the marquee investors that participated in the funding round were:

• Gaurav Gupta – CEO, Adani Capital
• Shashank Kumar - Co-founder, Dehaat
• Amrendra Singh - Co-founder, Dehaat
• Avinash Kumar – Founder, Credenc
• Arvind Kumar - Business Head of Agri division at Force Motors and Ex-CEO of Trringo (M&M group company) and Lemkin India.

The start-up intends to become a new-age manufacturer that will help dealers (Rural entrepreneurs in Tier 3 to Tier 6 Locations) sell farm mechanization products to small and marginal farmers. Its business model is built around creating a complete eco-system, which is a mix of physical and digital, and hence, called, ‘Phygital network’. The network is created to help partner dealers from supply of tractors, demand generation to sale of tractors, name transfer documentation, bringing in banking partners for tractor loans, and much more. The company’s revenue comes from creating value at each point of transaction.

MeraTractor was started by two ex-bankers to create an eco-system (Phygital network) that works to organize how farm mechanization products/rural financial products are sold in India.

The key objective is to combine technology (Front end/back-end platforms) and physical network, which is MeraTractor branded exclusive dealership owned by local rural entrepreneurs, to create a one-stop solution for all stakeholders, i.e., small and marginal farmers, financial institutions, tractor OEMs, etc., engaged in Farm mechanization. In its first round of fundraising, the company raised 2.25Cr. from friends and family in 2018.

About Founders:

Sajith Abraham (Co-founder) – B.Tech Agriculture Engineer by qualification, Sajith has more than 20 years of experience in tractor sales and rural lending. He has worked at TAFE Ltd, ICICI Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank. In his last assignment, he was the Vice President of Kotak Bank tractor lending team, managing more than INR 1000 Cr. of tractor portfolio in MH & AP/TL and has led a team of 200 Personnel.

Monak Gohel (Co-founder) - MBA Finance and CFA by qualification, Monak has more than 10 years of experience in Business Strategy, Investment Banking and Lending. He has worked at Kotak Mahindra Bank, CBRE, C&W, and Capital India Finance Limited (CIFL) In his last assignment, he was Associate Vice President at CIFL managing more than INR 500 Crs. of Urban Infrastructure portfolio.

Electric Tractor Start-Up 'Cellestial' Completes Pre-Series A Funding at Significant $35Mn Valuation

Hyderabad based Startup Cellestial E-mobility, the maker of the first electric tractor in India has grabbed 35 Million Dollars valuation in its Pre-Series A fundraise. Buoyed by its sustainable, robust business model, growing user response coupled with a consistent revenue generation Cellestial successfully closed its initial raise of Half a million USD.

This round of strategic financing included the Co-founder of Electric Motor Company, Ashik Karim, Founder of UpCapital Investments, Canada's leading EV financial advisory group who have not just invested but expressed a deeper interest in supporting the Company’s growth in branding & stewardship.

Gurj Aujla and other High-Net-Worth Individuals from Canada with links to agriculture, commercial banking and wealth management have also participated in this round.

Siddhartha Durairajan, Founder and CEO, Cellestial, stated 

The USP of our Electric tractor is that it is the first in its class with affordable pricing, path-breaking battery technology and torque that is primed to take on the tractor markets, with expansive sales and service dealer network.

The uniqueness of our affordable green EV Tractor targeted to Indian farmers is that it has a very low operating cost. We plan to introduce our affordable tractors in the global market next year. Starting this year, Cellestial will start shipping units to early buyers, dealers in India followed by Canadian and Mexican pilot markets. The order book is around 1700 tractors, and shipments to consumers and 5 distributors across the country will commence soon

“Today’s farming tractors do not address the unmet needs for the agriculture sector which is not only looking for affordability but also has high-performance efficiency. With our tractor, we have solved this need with a market-ready solution, backed by our technological expertise and deep domain knowledge. ” Siddhartha added.

“Our proprietary battery technology and deep understanding of optimising the performance in the e-propulsion makes the difference in our Electric Tractor,” said Syed Mubasheer, Co-founder and CTO, Cellestial E-Mobility.

Cellestial unveiled its first Electric Tractor prototype in March 2020 with avant-garde features like battery swap, regenerative braking, power inversion, residential AC power charging, and superfast charging. Integrating smart Li-ion battery technology with robust build, product aesthetics, and intelligent features, the Electric Tractor is built to run for longer periods with a full load, zero-emission, and stress-free operation.

Cellestial Green Tractors has undergone 1000s of hours of rigorous field tests including vibration testing to confirm market readiness.