Digital Green

What Digital Green does

Digital Green is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, founded in 2008 as a spin-off from Microsoft Research, that builds and deploys digital advisory systems for smallholder farmers in emerging markets. The organization's core product is FarmerChat, an AI-powered multimodal conversational platform that accepts voice, text, or photo inputs in 16+ local languages and delivers hyperlocal, climate-smart agricultural advisory tuned to specific soil, crop, and weather conditions. The platform is powered by fine-tuned OpenAI GPT-4o Mini models, supplemented by Anthropic Claude integration, Microsoft Paza ASR models for low-resource languages, and a retrieval-augmented generation framework co-developed with IFPRI under the GAIA project. Supporting products include FarmStack (an open-source data-sharing protocol), Kisan Diary Enterprise (FPO management tool), AgAdvisory Telegram bot, and a Feed Ration Formulation tool for dairy farmers co-developed with UC Davis.

Digital Green operates across six countries (India, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Brazil, and Zimbabwe) with offices in San Francisco (headquarters), Bengaluru, Nairobi, and Addis Ababa. As of mid-2026, FarmerChat has reached over 1.6 million farmers and delivered 8M+ answers, with 70% of active users applying advice within 30 days. The organization maintains deep institutional integration with government agricultural extension systems (Andhra Pradesh SERP, Ethiopia's Ministry of Agriculture, India's Bharat Vistaar platform) and works with a network of approximately 35 funders and technology partners including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta, Cisco, Google, Anthropic, FAO, and IFPRI.

The business model is philanthropic grant funding rather than direct revenue: smallholder farmers receive FarmerChat free of charge, while the organization's operations are sustained by grants from foundations (Gates, Rockefeller, Packard, Mulago, Schmidt), bilateral donors (UK FCDO, GIZ), and corporate foundations (Cisco, Meta, Google.org, Walmart.org). Distribution is entirely indirect — farmers access the platform through mobile apps, Telegram, WhatsApp community groups, telecom-embedded channels, and government extension worker onboarding — with no direct sales motion or paid acquisition. The 51-100 person organization is led by Co-Founder/CEO Rikin Gandhi and includes a C-suite of COO, CSO, CPO, plus regional VPs and country directors.

Name

Digital Green

Legal name

Digital Green Foundation

Website

https://digitalgreen.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Digital Green is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that builds AI-powered digital advisory tools, principally FarmerChat, delivering multilingual, hyperlocal agricultural guidance via voice, text, or photo to over 1.6 million smallholder farmers across six countries, funded by philanthropic grants and institutional partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Agricultural Advisory

NAICS

Soil Preparation, Planting, and Cultivating (115112)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro primary industry

Decision Support & Agronomic Modeling (Yield, Irrigation, Pest/Disease Forecasting) (AFAAAFAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Farm Management Information Systems (FMIS) & Digital Recordkeeping (AFABAMAD), Farm Data Management & Decision Support Services (FMIS Setup, Data Integration, Analytics) (AFACACAC), Interoperability & Data Connectivity Services (API/ETL, ISOXML/AgGateway, Equipment Data Sync) (AFACACAL)

Keywords

• Digital agricultural advisory
• Farmer extension services
• AI farming chatbot
• Agricultural data sharing
• Smallholder farmer support

Headquarters

HQ city

New Delhi

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Philanthropic Grants & Donations: Digital Green operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The primary revenue model consists of grant funding from foundations (Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Packard Foundation, etc.), bilateral donors (UK FCDO), and corporate foundations (Cisco, Meta, Google.org). Donations from individuals and institutional supporters supplement grants. Farmers receive services free of charge, with costs borne by the organization's fundraising.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Digital Green builds and deploys digital advisory systems for smallholder farmers. Its flagship product, FarmerChat, is an AI-powered multimodal mobile application that delivers climate-smart, hyperlocal, multilingual agricultural advice via voice, text, or photo. Supporting offerings include FarmStack (open-source data-sharing platform), Kisan Diary Enterprise (FPO management tool), Feed Ration Formulation (livestock tool), and video-based extension services. Farmers access all tools free of charge, with operations funded by philanthropic grants and institutional partnerships.

Product overview

Digital Green offers a portfolio of digital advisory products centered on FarmerChat, an AI-powered multimodal mobile application that delivers climate-smart, hyperlocal, multilingual agricultural advice to smallholder farmers. FarmerChat serves as the core product, available via mobile app and integrated with Telegram. Supporting products include video-based extension services, the AgAdvisory Telegram bot, FarmStack (open-source data-sharing platform), Kisan Diary Enterprise (FPO management tool), and the Feed Ration Formulation tool for livestock nutrition. The ecosystem is powered by partnerships with OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, and FAO, with FarmerChat reaching over 1.6 million users across 6 countries in 16 languages.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• FarmerChat: AI-powered multimodal mobile application providing climate-smart, hyperlocal, multilingual advisory services to smallholder farmers. Delivers personalized farming guidance and tips instantly through voice, text, or photo in any language.
• FarmStack
• Kisan Diary Enterprise (KDE)

Products and services

• FarmerChat AI-powered multimodal mobile application providing climate-smart, hyperlocal, multilingual agricultural advisory to smallholder farmers through voice, text, or photo inputs. Reaches over 1.6 million users across India, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Brazil, and Zimbabwe, delivering answers in 16 languages.
• FarmStack Open-source software protocol for secure, controlled peer-to-peer agricultural data sharing. Provides data connectors enabling organizations to share data with usage controls, with a 'steward' nodal agency managing the network. Used by government, nonprofit, and private organizations.
• Kisan Diary Enterprise (KDE) Digital tool for Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) supporting buyer discovery, commodity aggregation for sale, and transparent data sharing with real-time dashboards at FPO and individual farmer levels.
• Feed Ration Formulation (FRF) Tool Tool co-developed with UC Davis that connects researchers, extension workers, and farmers to access optimized livestock feed recommendations balancing cost, nutrition, and ingredient availability, reducing methane emissions.
• Video-Based Extension Services Video-based agricultural training featuring local farmers sharing best practices in their native languages. Community-produced videos are practical and relatable, delivered through mobile platforms alongside digital content to train farmers and extension workers.

Quantifiable outcome

• Cost per farmer to apply a new practice dropped from $35 to under $1; single answer costs less than four cents
• +9 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability8 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

18 partnerships are on record, tiered minor, core and flagship.

• CargillminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 June 2026Cargill partnered with Syngenta Foundation India and Digital Green India for an Integrated Dairy Development Initiative in Maharashtra's Ahilyanagar district. Project involves mobile veterinary vans, digital advisory services, and farmer capacity building with a budget of over ₹2.3 crores over two years.
• Andhra Pradesh SERP (Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 13 March 2026Digital Green Trust and Andhra Pradesh SERP signed an agreement to deploy AI-powered FarmerChat for women-led FPOs and SHGs. Partnership aims to develop digital competency, improve market access, decision-making, and agricultural practices. Signed during International Women's Day celebrations in Amaravati.
• Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 31 January 2022KALRO serves as 'steward' for FarmStack data-sharing platform in Kenya, building a digital community enabling secure data exchange among private, public, and nonprofit organizations to tailor products and services for Kenyan farmers. Digital Green supports KALRO's partners in deploying FarmStack.
• OpenAIflagshipTechnology or IntegrationStrategic AI partnership powering FarmerChat with GPT-4o Mini models. OpenAI provides AI infrastructure enabling Digital Green to deliver real-time, localized advice to 1M+ users at dramatically reduced cost. Anna Makanju (VP Global Affairs) highlighted the partnership as an economic breakthrough democratizing agricultural knowledge.
• MicrosoftcoreTechnology or IntegrationMicrosoft provided initial research environment as Digital Green spun off from Microsoft Research Lab in 2008. Ongoing technology partnership includes Project Gecko collaboration for low-resource language ASR (PazaBench), testing speech recognition models with farmers in Kenya, and cloud/AI infrastructure support.
• Cisco IndiacoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnered with Digital Green and Andhra Pradesh government to launch AI-powered FarmerChat, aiming to onboard 50,000 farmers across eight districts with at least 60% women participation. Cisco provides technology and operational support for the digital advisory deployment.
• MetacoreTechnology or IntegrationMeta supports Digital Green through Llama AI model access and the Llama Impact Grants program. Digital Green's AI chatbots for agriculture are highlighted as examples of social impact projects using Llama models in Sub-Saharan Africa, supporting multilingual agricultural advisory.
• AnthropiccoreTechnology or IntegrationAnthropic partnered with Digital Green to develop locally relevant AI models for Indic language speakers in agriculture. Announced February 2026 as part of Anthropic's expansion into India, integrating Claude AI capabilities with FarmerChat for the agriculture sector.
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFAO and Digital Green collaborate on FarmStack integration with FAO's digital services platform and spice value chain projects. FAO organized dissemination workshops for spice value chain projects in India (Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan), reaching 6,000 farmers through digital videos and generating 25 buyback agreements.
• Syngenta Foundation IndiaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with Cargill and Digital Green India on an Integrated Dairy Development Initiative in Maharashtra, deploying mobile veterinary vans and digital advisory services for smallholder dairy farmers.
• IFPRI (International Food Policy Research Institute)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIFPRI leads the GAIA (Generative AI for Agriculture) project with partners including CABI, SCiO, University of Florida, and Digital Green. Phase I tested RAG framework with FarmerChat in Kenya and India; Phase II (2025-2027) expands content aggregation, real-time data integration, and LLM evaluation protocols.
• UC DaviscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUC Davis (Department of Global Engagement, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences) partners with Digital Green on the Feed Ration Formulation tool for dairy farmers, funded by the Global Methane Hub across 16 countries in Asia and Africa. Field pilots conducted in Ethiopia (October 2024).
• Precision Development (PxD)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed among Digital Green's 35 partners. PxD and Digital Green co-implemented the Digital Agricultural Advisory Services (DAAS) project in Ethiopia, driven by Ethiopian Government priorities.
• Tata-Cornell InstituteminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed among Digital Green's 35 partner organizations. Collaboration likely focuses on agricultural economics, food systems, and smallholder farmer research in India.
• UC BerkeleyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed among Digital Green's academic partners, contributing research collaboration on digital agricultural extension and AI impact evaluation.
• UC DaviscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed among Digital Green's academic partners. Ongoing collaboration includes Hawassa University and Haramaya University (Ethiopia) on feed library development for the FRF tool.
• WWFminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed among Digital Green's partner organizations, potentially collaborating on sustainable agriculture, climate-smart farming, and environmental conservation programs.
• Winrock InternationalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed among Digital Green's 35 partner organizations, potentially collaborating on agricultural development programs.

Scale indicators15 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Precision Development (PxD): Global nonprofit delivering digital agricultural advisory to smallholder farmers via SMS, IVR, and mobile channels. Already a co-implementation partner with Digital Green on Ethiopia's DAAS project, making it the most directly comparable peer in mission, target population, and delivery model.
• Plantix: AI-powered mobile app for plant disease diagnosis and crop advisory serving smallholder farmers globally. Closely comparable on AI-based agricultural advisory, mobile-first delivery, and smallholder farmer targeting, though Plantix is for-profit and primarily focused on visual diagnostics rather than conversational advisory.
• CropIn: India-headquartered digital agriculture platform offering farm management, advisory, and traceability solutions to agribusinesses and smallholder farmers. Comparable on ag-tech platform model, India market focus, and farmer advisory functionality, though CropIn is commercial and serves enterprise customers alongside farmers.
• AgroStar: India's largest ag-tech platform providing agronomy advisory, input procurement, and market access to smallholder farmers via mobile app. Highly comparable on Indian smallholder focus, advisory-plus-commerce model, and multilingual mobile delivery, though AgroStar is commercial and profitable on input sales.
• DeHaat: India-based full-stack agricultural services platform connecting smallholder farmers to advisory, inputs, and market access. Comparable on smallholder farmer services, India market depth, and integrated advisory-and-commerce model, though DeHaat is heavily VC-funded and pursues aggressive commercial growth.
• Ignitia: Sweden-based social enterprise delivering highly localized weather forecasts via SMS to smallholder farmers in West Africa. Comparable on smallholder farmer focus, Africa market presence, and mobile-first delivery, though Ignitia specializes in weather rather than conversational agronomic advisory.

Broad incumbents

• CABI (Plantwise / PlantwisePlus): International intergovernmental not-for-profit organization operating Plantwise/PlantwisePlus, a global plant health advisory program serving smallholder farmers through extension networks. Comparable on nonprofit model, smallholder farmer focus, and government extension partnerships, though CABI is much larger and broader in scope than Digital Green.
• Bayer Climate Corporation / Climate FieldView: Bayer-owned digital agriculture platform offering precision agronomy, satellite imagery, and farm management for large-scale commercial farmers. Comparable on AI-powered agricultural advisory and data-driven farm decision support, though serves commercial rather than smallholder farmers and is embedded in Bayer's input ecosystem.

Emerging players

• OneSoil: Belarus/Europe-based precision agriculture platform using satellite imagery and AI for field monitoring, variable-rate application, and yield forecasting. Comparable on AI-driven agronomic decision support and multilingual deployment, though primarily serves medium-to-large farms in Eastern Europe rather than smallholders in the Global South.

Regional players

• Hello Tractor: Nairobi-based ag-tech company providing a digital platform connecting smallholder African farmers to tractor owners and equipment services via mobile. Comparable on smallholder farmer focus, Africa market presence, and mobile-first delivery, though focused on mechanization services rather than agronomic advisory.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/digitalgreenorg
• Facebookfacebook.com/digitalgreenorg
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/619071

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors3 records

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Digital Green