"It's essential to ensure that our technology is efficient, scalable and easy to use"
Mayank Tiwari, Co-founder & CEO, Reshamandi
Reshamandi, India’s first silk agritech startup, has arrived with the vision of bringing in standardisation in a highly unregulated market. The firm's proprietary Artificial Intelligence (AI)- and Internet of Things (IOT) technology are bringing in transparent and inexpensive solutions to the finer fabrics issues in India while closely working with farmers to streamline the silk industry and utilising the company's app, especially curated for farmer’s productivity. Their platform has helped farmers sell over Rs 15 crore worth of cocoons (3 lakh kgs), practically from their farms itself without the hassle of travelling to mandis. The startup recently raised $1.7 million as a part of its seed round funding led by Omnivore and Strive Ventures. Mayank Tiwari, Cofounder & CEO of Reshamandi shares his views on how agri-tech startups are helping in organising silk supply chains in India. Edited excerpts;
What inspired you to launch a startup?
The whole process of creating raw silk, from its early stages of egg production, cocoon creation, yarn production, and finally fabric production, is marred with myriad challenges. Every stage of the process poses authentic hurdles. Take, for instance, traders who act as middlemen, add no value for farmers and continue to diminish the earning potential of all the stakeholders.
Technological interventions were close to nil in the silk supply chain. There were several possibilities of technology playing a pivotal role in improving and streamlining the entire value chain. Silk has been a very important part of the cultural and economic setup of the country. A deep dive into the silk supply chain shows that it has been neglected. Hence it is not able to deliver better results to its stakeholders, leading to losses, lower production, and an increase in imports. I realised that the best and the fastest way to improve sericulture in India is to introduce the right technology at the right place, in the right way.
Silk industry being a highly unregulated, what challenges did you face initially?
We are a new and unique player in this industry which surprisingly did not have anyone involved at the level we are at now. We definitely faced various hurdles and friction. Adoption of technology is one of the biggest challenges I have faced. Stakeholders in the silk supply chain are diverse, and they have their own take on how technology can help them. Also, digital adoption in tier III towns and villages is a difficult proposition, not just because of the lack of proliferation of mobile phones, but also, mobile network infrastructure is lacking.
Lack of knowledge of how technology can help improve their core business is also a significant roadblock. Geographical constraints, lack of testing kits to ascertain the quality of cocoons and
yarn produced, were other challenges. Breaking a habit is difficult, especially with something that has never been seen or used before. It takes time and effort, but once technology starts delivering, adoption becomes easier and faster. It is essential to ensure that the technology we are building is efficient, scalable, and easy to use.
How are you contributing in organising the silk supply chain in India?
We are the world’s first and only digital silk supply chain enterprise, involved in solving problems for each stakeholder using a combination of technology, technical advisory, and on-the-ground assistance. Our full-stack platform acts as a layer of trust ensuring transparency, fair pricing, and increased incomes for all stakeholders in the silk ecosystem.
We are building a sustainable ecosystem where the farmer is able to complete the entire cycle of silkworm rearing to weave the finished product with the help of technology. Our services ensure that crops stay healthy via Ai-based tracking, which has helped reduce crop failure by 80 per cent, hence providing the farmer with higher production capacity and eventually get higher revenue.
Reshamandi has successfully launched a super app for silk. The app is designed, developed, and deployed by us to make the life of the sericulture practitioner easy and profitable. The app is divided into four sections and practitioners of specific aspects of the supply chain can log in and find what they need. It is available in four vernacular languages, is light to download and we also provide support via phone and Whatsapp.
The user has access to marketplaces, can purchase necessary input, get scientific advisory, and so on. They can showcase their products, as catalogues which are then visible to buyers from across the country. Payments are done completely online which reduces risk and fraud.
We are constantly improving farmer output via IOT led real-time monitoring and reporting. We have introduced two IOT devices at the farm gate:
● Rearing Shed IOT -These capture temperature, humidity, air quality, and light and provide real-time insights and advisories to the farmers, via the app.
● Mulberry IOT (in partnership with Fasal)these devices are deployed in the mulberry farmlands to measure the moisture, carbon, and ph levels of the soil to ensure highquality mulberry leaves are fed to silkworms. These devices have shown significant results, improving output to over 20-25 per cent. Farmers have adopted this technology and have attested them. We substantiate this claim with data that has been collected over a period, as we also procure the cocoons.
How do you foresee the silk industry?
The silk industry in India is a big sector, employing millions, directly or indirectly. It generates significant income, totalling nearly
2.5 per cent of the GDP. Most of the silk that is produced here is consumed internally, leaving less to be exported. We are working on two aspects of the supply chain:
● Increasing capacity- This can be done effectively by introducing technology. We are providing efficient marketplace linkages, standardising operational processes, removing logistics bottlenecks, introducing IOT devices, and more.
● Increasing quality-this has a direct impact on the adoption of Indian silk. When the quality of silk produced becomes better, it is naturally used more by weavers. IOT devices are extremely important in this process. Time to market is also decreased with logistics management.
By making sure capacity and quality improve, at the farm level, Indian silk becomes competitive, lucrative, and viable. This in turn has a positive impact on sericulture output which is our way of making India ‘Atmanirbhar' in silk.
How exactly, is your app helping sericulture farmers?
We only source and provide quality inputs that have passed our quality checks. These are easily accessible via the app. We also provide delivery options.
We practise data-backed purchasing to minimise crop failure. We want to move away from negotiation-based trading and move towards scientific-based procurement of cocoons using renditta testing. These tests are widely used across developed countries but have not been scaled throughout India.