Myca, an India-headquartered software startup, has closed a $1.3 million pre-seed round to expand its AI agent platform for agribusiness field operations. Kriscore Capital led the investment, with Eximius Ventures co-leading and participation from Indigram Labs Foundation and angel investors tied to the agriculture sector.

The company will use the proceeds to broaden its product suite, scale engineering headcount, and push into Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and India.

Why does agribusiness still run on WhatsApp?

CEO Arnav Pandey describes a market where Global South agribusinesses manage critical operations through WhatsApp messages, phone calls and spreadsheets. Head office systems, the company argues, rarely reflect what is happening on the ground in real time.

Myca's software ingests the messages, calls and photos that field teams already produce, structures that data, and assigns AI agents to handle the supervisor-level follow-up. The system layers on top of a company's existing ERP and CRM rather than replacing them.

The platform covers:

• Field sales tracking
• Crop surveys
• Procurement planning
• Credit assessment
• Warehouse and logistics tracking

The product launched in April in India and Indonesia. Myca now operates in eight countries and lists Bayer, Olam Food Ingredients, ETG-Parrogate, BigHaat and Dayatani among its customers.

What does field scale actually look like?

Co-founder Seamus Tardif put the size disparity in stark terms: "Some of our customers run field teams of 10 people in North America. In India they run a field team of 5,000."

The founder team — Pandey, Tejas Dinkar and Tardif — previously built an agritech venture in Southeast Asia that generated more than $100 million in topline revenue, according to the company.

How big is the addressable market?

Pandey frames the opportunity by a single number: "It's a $6 trillion industry. There are so many things to solve right in here."

While Myca sees "natural extensions" into fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) segments, agribusiness will remain the focus for the foreseeable future.

Why did the round take longer than usual?

The raise stretched longer than typical pre-seeds, Pandey says. "Investors today are not really keen on investing in agri, at least in this part of the world. The moment you add North America to the picture, things become a little easier. But the Global South is not the most sought-after place to invest in."

Tardif added that investor expectations have tightened materially since 2020. "In 2020, 2021, people just wanted to know you've got a great deck and a good team. Now it's, 'OK, but where's the pathway to a million?'"

Myca also battled positioning. The company bills itself as an AI software firm with agriculture as its vertical, but investors pigeonholed it as agritech. "You're touching agri companies, ergo you're an agritech," Tardif says.

What terms did the founders walk away from?

Exploratory conversations stretched several months. Talks turned serious around May and June. The founders rejected multiple offers before accepting the current round.

"We weren't happy with the terms. We weren't happy with the valuation," Tardif says.

Pandey describes the litmus test the team applied to each term sheet: "Assume we don't get a good valuation, and assume we don't make any revenue. Would this be the paper we'd be willing to sign in that case? If the answer is no, you don't need to sign it."

Tardif's advice to other founders: know when the business is ready before approaching investors seriously, keep the target list short, and do not fear walking away. "There is money out there. You have to have a little bit more patience for it."

Myca expects to raise again "in the not so distant future," he adds, with the next round likely to test whether Global South agribusiness AI can clear the bar investors now apply to every term sheet.