Business Name: Sign NDA to See

Business Start Date: 2016

Business Location: Ghana & Burkina Faso

Business Valuation: $12.74M

Business Model: Subscription, transactional charges

Industry: Agtech, Fintech (Credit, input financing, savings and insurance)

Percentage Being Sold: 100%

Sales (TTM): $5,978,706

Net Profit (SDE): $1,854,248

Business Multiple (EBITDA): 7x

Farm Users: 500,000

Financing Partners: 10

1. Executive Summary

Company Overview:
The target company is a leading agritech firm, founded in 2016, focused on providing market access and financial services to smallholder farmers in a West African country. Through its digital platform, the company connects farmers directly to buyers, eliminating intermediaries and improving pricing transparency. The company’s platform also enables farmers to access financial services such as mobile money and microloans, improving financial inclusion.

The company has grown rapidly and now serves over 350,000 farmers across multiple regions. These farmers primarily cultivate staple crops such as maize, soybeans, and sorghum, benefiting from the company’s services, which have increased their incomes by 35% and reduced food waste by 25%. With strategic partnerships in agriculture, finance, and telecommunications, the company is well-positioned to continue its growth trajectory.

Key Metrics:

• Farmers Onboarded: 350,000+

• Regions of Operation: Multiple regions

• Crops Facilitated: 75,000 metric tons+

• Financial Transactions Processed: $30M+

The sale of the company presents a unique opportunity to acquire a rapidly growing business with established operations, a proven platform, and significant room for expansion in both existing and new markets.

2. Business Model & Revenue Streams

The company operates a diversified business model with multiple revenue streams derived from its technology platform, franchise operations, and financial services.

1. Contract Offtakers:
   The company secures long-term contracts with large-scale agricultural processors and buyers. These contracts ensure steady demand for farmers' crops, contributing a significant portion to the company's revenue.

2. Open Market Sales:
   The company also sells crops through open market channels, allowing it to capitalize on varying market prices and increase revenue beyond contracted sales.

3. Franchise Distribution:
   Through its franchise program, the company partners with third-party distributors to store and sell crops domestically. These franchises offer localized storage and distribution, reducing food waste and providing direct access to local markets.

4. Platform Licensing (PAAS):
   The company licenses its digital tools to other agribusinesses, enabling them to use its proprietary platform for managing transactions, crop tracking, and payments. This licensing model provides steady recurring revenue.

5. Financial Service Commissions:
   The company generates commissions by facilitating financial transactions, such as loan disbursements and mobile money payments, through partnerships with financial institutions. These services are critical for smallholder farmers, who typically have limited access to formal financial systems.

6. Digital Payment Transactional Charges:
   The company earns revenue from transaction fees on digital payments made through its platform, further diversifying its income streams.

3. Market Opportunity

The agricultural sector in West Africa is a key economic driver, with smallholder farmers producing the majority of the region’s agricultural output. Despite their importance, farmers face significant challenges in accessing fair market prices, logistical support, and financial services.

Challenges Addressed by the Company:

• Market Access: Many farmers are forced to sell to middlemen at low prices due to limited access to urban markets.

• Logistical Constraints: Poor infrastructure and transportation options make it difficult for farmers to move their produce to markets, leading to crop spoilage and lower returns.

• Financial Exclusion: Smallholder farmers often lack formal financial services, such as credit and insurance, which limits their ability to invest in their farms and increase productivity.

Company’s Solution:
The company’s platform tackles these challenges through an integrated solution that connects farmers directly with buyers, provides logistics support, and offers financial services. This comprehensive approach has made the company a trusted partner for both farmers and buyers, helping to drive significant improvements in farmer income and productivity.

4. Products and Services

1. Digital Platform:
   The company’s primary product is its digital platform, which connects farmers to buyers and provides essential market information. The platform allows farmers to sell their crops directly to buyers, eliminating intermediaries and ensuring transparent pricing. Additionally, the platform facilitates logistics such as transportation and storage, significantly reducing food spoilage.

2. Financial Inclusion Platform:
   The financial platform enables farmers to access services such as mobile money, loans, and micro-insurance. By leveraging the platform, farmers can build credit histories and gain access to formal financial institutions, empowering them to invest in their farms.

3. Logistics Platform:
   The company offers on-demand logistics services to farmers through its platform, ensuring efficient transportation of crops from farms to buyers or storage facilities. This logistics solution addresses one of the most significant barriers to market access for smallholder farmers.

4. Franchise Distribution:
   The company’s franchise program enables third-party distributors to store and sell crops at local hubs. This model not only provides farmers with additional market access but also reduces food waste by offering immediate storage solutions.

5. Strategic Partnerships and Competitive Advantage

The company has established key partnerships across multiple sectors, including agriculture, telecommunications, and finance. These partnerships enable the company to expand its reach, enhance its service offerings, and provide additional value to farmers.

Competitive Advantage:
The company differentiates itself from competitors by offering an end-to-end solution that addresses the entire agricultural value chain. Its competitors typically focus on narrow segments of the market, while the company provides a full suite of services, from market access and logistics to financial inclusion and advisory support.

6. Financial Performance

The company has demonstrated strong financial growth, with revenues driven by its diversified business model. Key financial highlights include:

• Total Financial Transactions Processed: $30M+

• Crops Facilitated: 75,000 metric tons+

• Revenue Composition: The company generates revenue from a mix of long-term contracts, open market sales, franchise sales, platform licensing, financial service commissions, and transaction fees.

7. Growth Strategy

The company’s growth strategy is centered around three key areas: expanding its farmer base, diversifying its crop portfolio, and entering new markets.

1. Farmer Base Expansion:
   The company aims to grow its registered farmer base to 2 million by 2026. This will be achieved by increasing its network of field agents, hosting farmer education events, and expanding its financial services offering.

2. Crop Diversification:
   While the company currently focuses on staple crops like maize and soybeans, it plans to expand into higher-value crops such as cashews, cocoa, and shea. This crop diversification will provide access to new markets and higher-margin opportunities.

3. Geographical Expansion:
   The company is planning to enter five new African markets in the near term. These markets have been identified based on their potential for adopting agritech solutions and the need for improved market access and financial services for smallholder farmers.

8. Transaction Opportunity

This is an opportunity to acquire a leading agritech business with a proven track record of growth, innovation, and impact. The company is seeking a full sale, offering the acquirer a well-established brand, proprietary technology, strong customer base, and a scalable business model.

Key Transaction Highlights:

• Scalability: The company’s digital platform is scalable across new geographies, allowing for rapid expansion into additional markets.

• Proven Technology: The platform is fully developed and operational, with a clear competitive advantage over other solutions in the market.

• Diverse Revenue Streams: The company generates revenue from multiple sources, reducing dependency on any single income stream and enhancing financial stability.

• Social Impact: The company’s business model is aligned with broader social impact goals, including poverty reduction, food security, and financial inclusion, making it attractive to impact investors and ESG-focused buyers.

The full acquisition of the company provides an immediate entry point into the rapidly growing agritech sector, with significant upside potential from further expansion and product development.

9. Key Risk Factors

1. Commodity Price Volatility:
   Agricultural markets are susceptible to fluctuations in commodity prices, which can affect profitability. The company mitigates this by managing inventory levels through its aggregation centers.

2. Crop Quality Control:
   Ensuring consistent crop quality is essential for maintaining contracts with large buyers. The company employs a dual quality assurance process that includes on-site assessments and third-party testing to mitigate this risk.

3. Logistical Challenges:
   Infrastructure limitations in the regions where the company operates present challenges for transportation and storage. The company’s logistics platform and investment in aggregation centers help mitigate these challenges.

4. Currency Risk:
   Operating in multiple markets exposes the company to foreign exchange risk. The company has implemented hedging strategies to manage this exposure effectively.

5. Farmer Credit Risk:
   The company’s financial inclusion platform extends loans to smallholder farmers, who may have limited credit histories. To manage risk, the company has established strict credit criteria based on farming and financial performance.

10. Management and Advisory Team

The company is led by a team of seasoned professionals with expertise in technology, agriculture, and finance. The management team has successfully scaled the business since its inception, with a proven ability to deliver results in a complex market. The advisory board includes industry experts from global finance and technology sectors, providing strategic oversight and guidance.

11. Conclusion

The target company is an established leader in the agritech space, offering a comprehensive solution to the challenges faced by smallholder farmers. With a strong technology platform, diversified revenue streams, and significant growth potential, the company represents an attractive acquisition opportunity.

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About the Agent 

FIH.com is a Manhattan-based M&A advisory firm specializing in the sale of remotely-run successful digital companies (around the world) from $1M-100M in revenue, including apps, marketplaces, freemium + enterprise SaaS, ecommerce, affiliate/advertising groups, and more! We are proud to work with the very best entrepreneurs and investors, so if that’s you and you are in the market to acquire or sell a relevant business, then we encourage you to reach out for a complimentary consultation.