Intello Labs, a global AI-powered quality assaying startup, formally announced the launch of their Praman business today, which has been in stealth mode over the past few months.
Praman is a agriculture produce trade exchange platform, with integrated quality assessment. It currently facilitates spot-trading and e-auctioning in agri-commodities including cardamom, onion, garlic, pomegranate, apple, potato, and tomato.
Praman is building a much-needed quality layer between farmers and traders to accelerate and accomplish the digital transformation of Indian agriculture, according to a company press release.
Within a few months since its launch, Praman has already achieved a monthly Gross Transaction Value (GTV) of $40 million. Besides automating workflow, Praman makes data on quality of the agri-produce remotely accessible, allowing traders to participate in real-time from anywhere, without the need to be physically present at auctions or market yards.
"We are pleased to give the entire trading process a digital makeover, driving geographic expansion and market outreach. This initiative is one more step in establishing Intello Labs as a leader in agritech and innovation," said Milan Sharma, co-founder, and CEO of Intello Labs. "We’ve set the path to automation and standardization in the industry. It is only a matter of time before the convenience, speed, and efficiency of Praman set the path for the future of digital agri-trade."
As an example, size, colour, and defects are a few primary quality criteria considered during cardamom grading. The subjectivity of manual grading causes drastic fluctuation in pricing decisions during auctions. Intello Labs’ quality assaying technology brings over 95 percent accuracy to cardamom quality grading as opposed to about 70 percent using manual methods, it claims.
"I can see what grade my produce is and see the bidding live. Now I can also withdraw my produce from the auction and put it for re-auction if I am unhappy with the auction prices as compared to my quality and the rest of the growers' quality," said Vasu, a cardamom grower from Theni, Tamil Nadu.
Praman is rapidly growing for all commodities and expects to hit a Monthly Gross Transaction Value of $100 million within the next two quarters, which will make it the largest agri-trade exchangein India, it said.
