This archive report was first published on 7 July 2020.
Launched in March 2020, Ifarm360 is a crowd farming platform that aims to empower smallholder farmers by connecting them to affordable finance from crowd investors.
The platform helps users supervise production and create a sustainable revenue-sharing model, making it easier for farmers to improve their livelihoods.
Co-founded by Derrick Gakuu, Milka Owuor, Fredrick Juma, and Dr. Astrid Knoblauch from Switzerland, Ifarm360 was born out of a desire to address the challenges faced by smallholder farmers.
According to Derrick Gakuu, one of the co-founders, the market opportunity for Ifarm360 is huge, with 70% of food in Kenya produced by smallholder farmers.
Unlike traditional financial institutions, Ifarm360 provides affordable capital to farmers without expected interest on return, with the payback derived from the produce harvested.
The platform's core business model is in farming as a business, making money through agricultural commodity trade after harvests.
With a focus on innovation and technology, Ifarm360 sources production funds from crowd investors who can invest safely from anywhere in the world.
As a self-funded firm, Ifarm360 is passionate about smallholder farmers, believing that proper farming at scale is a powerful lever for food security and improved livelihoods.
With a solution that addresses a big problem locally and across Africa, Ifarm360 is confident that it will stay in the market, despite the high failure rate of startups within 5 years.
