The project can be implemented on the basis of the SmartSeeds transport automation platform.
The controlling stake in Demetra Holding LLC is owned by VTB Bank, which has become the largest operator of assets in the grain market after a series of purchases in 2019-2020.
In early October, Demetra Holding established Agricultural Digital Ecosystem LLC.
There were no official statements from the company, but experts believe that the company could be created, among other things, for the development of an agro-industrial marketplace that will unite manufacturers, exporters, processors, owners of elevators, etc.
Initially, Demetra Holding planned to purchase SmartSeeeds, but the deal was rejected on the initiative of one of the holding’s owners.
At the same time, the parties continued to move towards the conclusion of partnership agreements in the framework of digital business development.
Evgeny Tikhomirov, who was previously a top manager of Ozon, and was also involved in the creation of marketplaces in eBay and Yandex. Market.
There are already two companies operating on the Russian market, whose digital platforms allow connecting the seller and the buyer: Agro.Club and Direct.Farm.
With them, in the case of creating its own marketplace, «Demetra Holding» will compete.
In order to attract customers, the new platform will need to provide new and more profitable solutions for business: most likely, it should be its own clearing, which will increase the security of transactions.
At the same time, the company will need to become a guarantor of transactions in terms of payments, quality of goods, etc., which, in the conditions of the domestic market, can become problematic.
Grand View Research (an American market research and consulting company) has estimated the global turnover of the agricultural technology market at $ 4.7 billion.
Accordingly, Russia, which plays a leading role in the grain market, is an interesting platform for investors in terms of the development of digital technologies.
For the creators of such a marketplace, the development of IT programs alone will cost several tens of millions of rubles, and then hundreds of millions of rubles are needed to create products that will become additional incentives to attract customers.
If we talk about existing digital platforms, Agro.Club this year attracted investments in the amount of $ 1.5 million from Elevator Ventures, a member of Raiffeisenbank, and Speedinvest investment fund.
But this is not an investment in the air: existing marketplaces, on average, charge a commission of 1% per contract only for the opportunity to conclude contracts between the seller and the buyer through their sites.
And although at the moment the Russian market is very conservative, and contracts are often concluded without going through such sites, the future belongs to digital platforms.
Consumers need a high-quality multifunctional product that will make the market transparent, reliable, and the platform itself beneficial for the user.
