WeFarm

01The full story

WeFarm began as an impact project and became a startup in 2015, led by Kenny Ewan after seven years working with indigenous communities in Peru. Its core product lets a farmer without internet access send a question by SMS for free. Machine-learning classification selects roughly 10 to 15 people likely to know the answer; usually two or three respond. The company described a network of about 140,000 farmers, with roughly 35% contributing knowledge each month and 85–90% still active three months after joining. Radio partnerships could bring in 4,000 to 5,000 signups in an hour. WeFarm reported some revenue, though it remained pre-profit, and expected around $50,000 in commercial revenue in 2017. It had raised a $1.7 million seed round after an earlier £500,000 Google Impact Challenge award, and employed about 20 people across London, Nairobi, Kampala, and Peru. Its intended business model combined aggregated supply-chain insights for businesses with transaction commissions when farmers were connected to sellers.