“From Farm Machinery to Agri-Fintech: How farMart Pivoted to Survive”

Startup Name: farMart

Founded: 2016

Original Model:
farMart launched as an on-demand agri-machinery sharing platform, connecting farmers who owned underutilized equipment (like tractors and tillers) with small and marginal farmers needing to rent such machinery. The platform operated via mobile app and call center, aiming to organize the highly fragmented and informal rural rental market, lower costs for renters, and boost income for machinery owners.

Pivot and Reason:
Within two years, farMart’s founders recognized a critical flaw:

• Farm mechanization, while impactful, did not generate daily or consistent cash flow. Demand for rentals was highly seasonal, tied to planting and harvesting cycles, resulting in long periods of low or no revenue.

• Smallholder farmers’ bigger challenge was access to affordable credit. Most lacked access to formal loans, relying on informal lenders at high interest rates, especially during peak agricultural cycles.

In April 2018, farMart pivoted from equipment sharing to agri-fintech, focusing on providing credit-backed agri-inputs. The new model offered smallholder farmers a virtual credit card to purchase farm inputs (like seeds and fertilizers) at farMart’s offline retail channels, addressing the more pressing issue of working capital and input financing.

What Ended:

• The original equipment-sharing model was effectively discontinued with this pivot, as the company shifted focus to financial services and later to SaaS-led B2B agri-supply chain solutions.

Learnings to Be Avoided by New Startups:

• Beware of seasonality: Models tied to agricultural cycles often struggle with cash flow and utilization outside peak seasons.

• Solve the most acute pain point: Deep market research may reveal that the real barrier for your target customers is different from your initial hypothesis.

• Be ready to pivot: Early recognition of business model limitations and willingness to shift focus can be crucial for survival.

• Diversify revenue streams: Relying on a single, highly seasonal service can make it difficult to build a sustainable business.

Summary Table

farMart’s journey demonstrates the importance of listening to the market and being agile enough to pivot when the original business model proves unsustainable.