Proximity Finance

What Proximity Finance does

Proximity Designs is a Myanmar-based not-for-profit 501(c)(3) social enterprise founded in 2004 by Jim Taylor and Debbie Aung Din, operating exclusively in Myanmar with headquarters in Yangon and 101-250 employees. The company designs and delivers affordable agricultural products and services to rural smallholder farmers, addressing irrigation, pest and disease management, and soil health. Its core product portfolio, marketed under the Yetagon (Burmese for "waterfall") sub-brand, includes the Online Drip Emitter, multi-angle misters and ground sprayers, the Sturdy Boy 250-gallon water tank, Trichoderma biofungicide biologicals, and the No-Burn Rice Farming practice. Technology is anchored in Proximity Labs, an in-house multidisciplinary design group established in 2008 in partnership with Stanford d.school that uses CAD, 3D printing, and ethnography-driven co-design with farmers.

The company's go-to-market combines direct field sales, local distributors, independent village agents, private retailers, an online ordering channel, and digital advisory delivery via field agronomists, Facebook Messenger chatbot, Viber, SMS, and a contact center hotline. Proximity also operates Proximity Finance, one of Myanmar's few farmer-facing microfinance institutions, offering credit products such as On-the-Go Loan alongside physical inputs. Revenue is generated through hardware sales (~$13-$100 per unit), agronomy service fees, and microfinance interest, supplemented by philanthropic capital.

Scale signals include 250,000+ farmers served annually on a base of over 1.3 million farm families, reach across 17,000 villages and 250 townships (covering ~75% of Myanmar's farming population), 291,000 active Yetagon irrigation users, and a self-reported 12x efficiency ratio of net farmer income gain per dollar of delivery cost. The funding mix is approximately 30% earned revenue and 70% grants/philanthropic capital, with recent debt rounds from OPIC ($10M, 2019), a Finnfund/NMI/Proparco consortium ($14M, 2020), and BIO ($3.1M, 2020). Strategic positioning is reinforced by the Skoll Award, Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year, Curry Stone Design Prize, Ashden Award, and membership in the Climate Action for Smallholders Coalition.

Name

Proximity Finance

Legal name

Proximity Designs

Website

https://proximitydesigns.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Proximity Designs is a Myanmar-based not-for-profit social enterprise designing and delivering affordable irrigation, agronomy, soil health, and microfinance products and services to over 1.3 million rural smallholder farmers across 17,000 villages nationwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Microfinance

NAICS

Other Nondepository Credit Intermediation (52229), Credit Intermediation and Related Activities (522)

SIC

Personal Credit Institutions (6141)

akta.pro primary industry

Agricultural & Rural Microfinance (FSAKAGAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Direct Lending — Specialty Finance (Consumer/SME Lending Platforms) (FSAHAJAF), Development Finance & Blended Finance Facilities (BPADAOAD)

Keywords

• Agricultural microfinance
• Rural microcredit
• Smallholder lending
• Farmer finance services
• Microfinance institution

Headquarters

HQ city

Yangon

HQ country

Myanmar (Burma)

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Farm Technology Sales: Earned revenue from selling farm irrigation products including Yetagon irrigation systems. Full irrigation set can cost as little as $100. Online Drip Emitter priced at 18,000 kyats (~$13 USD).
2. Agronomy Products and Services: Earned revenue from pest and disease services and soil health products including Trichoderma biologicals.
3. Philanthropic Capital: 80% of funding comes from grants. Grants fund product design, impact measurement, and reaching thousands of rural villages.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels10 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Proximity Finance is a farmer-facing microfinance institution in Myanmar that provides accessible credit products to rural smallholder farmers. Its flagship On-the-Go Loan is designed to give farmers convenient access to working capital for purchasing agricultural inputs and equipment, delivered through a nationwide network of field agents, village retailers, and digital channels. The institution operates as the financial services arm of Proximity Designs, serving over 1.3 million farm families.

Product overview

Proximity Designs is a social business that designs and delivers affordable, income-boosting agricultural products and services for rural Myanmar families. The core offering is organized around the Yetagon (Burmese for waterfall) product line, which includes Yetagon Irrigation Products (drip and sprinkler irrigation systems, water storage tanks, sensors), Yetagon Farm Advisory Services (pest and disease management including Trichoderma biologicals), and Soil Health services (No-Burn Rice Farming, Rice Seed Selection, Fertilizer Management). These products are designed by Proximity Labs, the company's in-house multidisciplinary design team. Additional products include the Sturdy Boy Water Tank, Golden Sprout Texting Service, and On-the-Go Loan. The portfolio addresses the full farming cycle from irrigation to harvest, focusing on climate adaptation and mitigation for smallholder farmers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Yetagon: Product brand name meaning 'waterfall' in Burmese. Portfolio of farm tech products including sprinkler and drip irrigation, solar-powered water pumps, sensors, precision planting, and farm advisory services.

Products and services

• On-the-Go Loan Accessible credit product designed to give rural smallholder farmers in Myanmar working capital to purchase agricultural inputs and equipment. Offered through Proximity Finance, the farmer-facing microfinance arm of Proximity Designs.

Quantifiable outcome

• 30% average annual income increase for customers using products and services
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature9 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Stanford d.schoolcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2008Proximity Labs originated from a partnership with Stanford d.school in 2008. The partnership established the foundation for human-centered design approaches in developing agricultural products for Myanmar farmers.
• Climate Action for Smallholders CoalitioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProximity Designs is part of the Climate Action for Smallholders Coalition, a group of seven organizations with trusted relationships with millions of smallholder land managers across the Global South. The coalition enables farmers to reap the value they deserve for their contribution to ecosystem preservation.
• Studio D RadioduranscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for ethnographic research and publication development including 'When It Rains, It Pours' on sesame farming and 'Paddy to Plate' exploring rice farming. Conducted in-depth on-the-ground studies combining 6 designers, 19,227 photos, 120 ethnographic interviews, and 500+ miles of travel.

Scale indicators15 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• One Acre Fund: Directly comparable social enterprise serving smallholder farmers with a bundled offering of inputs, financing, and training across multiple African countries. Same model archetype — last-mile distribution + credit + agronomy — applied to a different geography.
• iDE: International development enterprise focused on designing and distributing income-generating products (including irrigation) to rural smallholders. Closely mirrors Proximity Designs' human-centered design and farmer-product approach.
• KickStart International: Designs and markets low-cost irrigation and agricultural tools for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Highly comparable product category (affordable irrigation hardware for small plots) and mission.

Broad incumbents

• BRAC: One of the world's largest development organizations combining microfinance with agriculture, health and education programs. Comparable in offering a credit-plus-agriculture bundle to rural poor, but operates across many countries and verticals at far greater scale.
• Grameen Bank: Pioneer of microfinance to rural poor populations, including agricultural credit. Comparable as a farmer-facing credit institution, though Grameen is a mature, broad-scope microfinance model rather than a product-design-led organization.

Emerging players

• Apollo Agriculture: Fintech-agriculture platform providing credit, inputs and advisory to smallholder farmers in Africa via mobile channels. Comparable on the embedded credit + digital advisory axis, though it is asset-light rather than a hardware-led model.
• SunCulture: Sells solar-powered irrigation and water solutions to smallholder farmers in East Africa, often on pay-as-you-go financing. Directly comparable on affordable irrigation hardware for smallholders with a credit overlay.
• Digital Green: Uses video and digital channels to disseminate agricultural extension content to smallholder farmers globally. Overlaps with Proximity's Farm Advisory chatbot, Viber and SMS digital extension channels.
• CropIn: Digital agriculture platform offering farm management, advisory, and traceability to agribusinesses and farmers. Partial overlap with Proximity's digital agronomy and data-driven advisory capabilities.

Regional players

• Babban Gona: Nigerian social enterprise bundling inputs, credit, training and marketing for smallholder farmer cooperatives. Closely comparable smallholder finance-plus-services model in a different geography.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat7 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/proximitydesign
• YouTubevimeo.com/user6552046
• Facebookfacebook.com/proximitydesigns
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/proximitydesigns
• Instagraminstagram.com/proximitydesigns

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Proximity Finance