AGRANDO GMBH

REDEFINING TRADITIONAL FARMING ACROSS EUROPEAN MARKET

Regardless of how the era has shifted from manual to automation or how new businesses have emerged as growth drivers, agriculture will always be the cornerstone of economic development. And it’s no epiphany that modern agriculture needs more innovation inclusion. Across the world, Germany has the highest and most eye-catching innovations for its fields and farms. Self-driving tractors, milking robots and feeding machines are some of the standard equipment available to farmers.

Smart farming practices built on digital technologies are substantially enabling resource-saving farming. Digital technologies have also brought suppliers and consumers closer. It has created the opportunity for innovative marketplaces to replace the traditional ways of connecting. Agrando, an Agtech firm, is reinventing the agriculture trade through digital innovations. Its innovative solutions are bridging the gap between farming partners and digitizing agricultural retail across Europe.

Regardless of how the era has shifted from manual to automation or how new businesses have emerged as growth drivers, agriculture will always be the cornerstone of economic development. And it’s no epiphany that modern agriculture needs more innovation inclusion. Across the world, Germany has the highest and most eye catching innovations for its fields and farms. Self-driving tractors, milking robots and feeding machines are some of the standard equipment available to farmers.

IN A BRIEF LOOK
Agrando is an online marketplace that enables farmers to buy products for farming. It connects agricultural retailers, including farmers, traders, and manufacturers, to buy and sell necessary farming products, like seeds, fertilizers, animal feed, Plant Protection, fuels and much more. It offers a sustainable agriculture market where partners can do business and succeed.

Agrando has a multilingual and motivated team that sees the company as a way of the future. The team comprises specialists (programmers, analysts, marketing, and sales professionals) with a keen interest in modern agriculture and digitization. The farmers work with this team, which aims to revamp and make this traditional business internationally competitive.

BRINGING INTO THE SPOTLIGHT
Agrando was founded by Jonathan Bernwieser, in 2017, in Munich, Germany. Raised in Southern Germany, Jonathan, one day, saw his father piled up with invoices. He realized his father was handling thousands of euros and managing his agriculture business from the kitchen. As the son of a farmer, he wanted to reform this traditional structure and shape it for the future. After multiple trials and error for five years and studying business informatics, he found the silver lining in digitization – This led to the birth of Agrando. Seeing his idea mushrooming for the past 3 years, Jonathan is proud.

He says, “Seeing my father that day, I realized for the first time how far agriculture had yet to come to use digital technology. Or to put it another way: How grand the potential of digital agriculture really was.” It’s assisting firms to achieve digitization and master futuristic issues in just three years, regardless of whether their focus is regional or national or whether they prefer to work online or conventionally. It also provides tailored consulting to make digital agricultural trade accessible, ensuring that they have every information they need to make informed decisions. It has operations in Kosovo as well.

IN LINE WITH AGRICULTURAL SHIFTS
Along the chain, from farm to fork, digitization changed, improved, or influenced almost every process. Be it soil management, tracking animal health and productivity or field management during planting, growth, and harvest: digitization covers everything. In this chain, however, the section for procuring farm needs did not receive that much attention.

Neither did accounting, documentation, and other parts of basic business administration. Communication and information are the silver lining. And with digitization, access to information and connectivity becomes much easier. It also allows farmers to focus on business decisions along with research and farm work.

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Being a pioneering agricultural marketplace, Agrando stays complacent to these sustainable concepts. While there are other retail platforms in the region, it provides unrivalled support to farmers. As a result, it is more than an agricultural input; it is a reliable business partner who helps farmers become more efficient. Its team works with farmers who are tech-savvy and even those who are not. Agrando is a crossplatform marketplace, and users can avail services & support for all kinds of agricultural needs.

The comprehensive setup has attracted a lot of traditional businesses and ecological farms that operate on a regular or part-time basis. Jonathan further adds how their platform has been a breakthrough. He says, “In southern Germany, the landscape includes a lot of smaller, family-run farms – like other countries in Europe, which is why we started here and are expanding to Europe further.”

Agrando is a product-driven company with a one-of-a-kind setup. It is committed to R&D and has an in-house team of specialists, including agriculturists, data scientists, etc. They work together not only to develop software and improve their services but also to support one another at internal workshops, eliminating the dependency on outside agencies.

AN UNORTHODOX CAREER OPPORTUNITY
Agrando is on a mission, unlike any other forward-thinking digital company. And ambitious aims demand creative minds, which is why Agrando has assembled a strong team of 160 people from more than a dozen nationalities. More than their skills, Agrando searches for particular qualities that align with the values of the company. The company also has an open line of communication to ensure transparency.

Jonathan and his colleagues also make a 360° evaluation of performance and make improvements where necessary. The group is breaking new ground in the digital world while also carving out a place for themselves. Together, the team is breaking ground in the digital realm while nurturing a niche for themselves.

DEALING WITH THE PANDEMIC
The pandemic inflicted the European agricultural market in over one way. A large proportion of production was destroyed. Barriers to the movement of farmers have had a significant impact on output, particularly in horticulture farming. While the scenario has changed, involuntary outbreaks continue to cause poor working and housing conditions for small firms, resulting in a production shortfall.

The period mainly affected family-run businesses that lacked knowledge of how to deal with this novel adversary. And supporting them amid the restrictions was quite an endeavour. Despite the transgressions, Agrando outperformed and prospered during the pandemic. It leveraged its digital capabilities and shifted to work from home, widening its operational horizon. This helped them stay connected, expand the team and help the business grow.

ON A VISIONARY PATH
Agrando was born with a vision to digitalize agricultural trade throughout Europe. To date, Agrando has registered over 20,000 farmers, with 1000 new farmers adding each month. The Consistency is shaping a sustainable agriculture market where partners can collaborate in a non-competitive environment. In 2020, it expanded into Austria and to France in 2021. Recently, it also put a prominent financial feather on its cap. In July 2021, Agrando closed its Series-A funding round with the highest sum in Agtech in Europe ever. Investors, such as the Munich-based Yabeo Impact AG, Sony Innovation Fund and Investbridge, joined existing investors such as June Fund and JLR Star.

Agrando intends to keep offering long-term professional help to family-owned farms. Not only to survive the current instability, but also to be profitable. With its skilled workforce and tech innovations, Agrando will undoubtedly achieve its goals and become a high-flyer in the domain.

TO EVERY ASPIRING MINDS
“As long as you keep going, you don’t fail. “I truly believe in that saying, and I can only follow it by constantly being open to learning.” – Jonathan Bernwieser, CEO