AgroForte, a credit fintech for small rural producers, announced a BRL 6 million investment round led by Futurum Capital and followed by venture capital funds The Yield Lab and Kalei Ventures, by Catálise Investimentos and investors such as Felipe Moraes, Arthur O’Keefe and Guillermo Arauz.
Founded in 2020 by Felipe d’Avila, Gustavo Silva, and Carlos Eduardo Mascarenhas, the agfintech offers credit without collateral to poultry, pork, egg, and dairy small farmers. The entire process of applying for and approving the credit is done via an app, with a simple registration and digital signature. The average ticket is BRL 80,000 and the maximum is BRL 500,000.
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AgroForte’s target audience is rural producers who are integrated or have supply contracts with agribusiness or cooperatives. The credit analysis, in fact, is done based on the data provided by the integrator (such as production volume, quality of the batches, and debt history), which allows for greater assertiveness in offering credit.
Agtech currently works with four credit lines: investments in the production structure, purchase of animals, costing, and anticipation of receivables. The loan is deposited directly into the producer’s account, or AgroForte pays for the input or equipment directly to the supplier within 24 hours. The producer can repay the loan within 6 to 24 months.
To secure the operation and make it possible to offer lower interest rates, the payment of the installments is done through retention or deduction by the agroindustry directly from the batch or crop supplied by the producer, limited to 30% of the producer’s income. The farmer follows the entire financing flow through the app, which provides data about installments due, interest rates, and credit limit, in case there is interest for new loans.
“We are making access to credit more democratic for small and medium-sized rural producers, offering financing alternatives with agility and transparency. Our mission is to promote financial inclusion in the countryside,” says D’Ávila, CEO of AgroForte.
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With just over two years of operation, agfintech has already sealed more than 10 partnerships with agribusinesses and cooperatives, and its more than 3,000 producers or cooperative members already have access to its credit lines through the app.
With the new funds, AgroForte plans to expand the products and credit solutions offered. The growth strategy is national and the startup expects to grant, in the next 18 months, approximately BRL 150 million in financing.
