In 2019, when GIIF brought together innovators, insurers, policymakers, and investors in Mumbai for its Agriculture Insurtech Innovation Challenge, the objective was to create space for emerging technologies to be tested, discussed, and assessed at the intersection of agriculture, insurance, and resilience.

At the time, many of the innovators participating in the challenge shared a common ambition: using data, digital platforms, and new forms of connectivity to address long-standing constraints faced by smallholder farmers—limited access to finance, exposure to climate risk, and fragmented value chains.

One of the nine award recipients selected in Mumbai was Stellapps, a Bangalore-based agri-technology company working to digitize India’s dairy supply chain through Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, data analytics, and integrated financial services. Alongside other finalists and winners, including platforms focused on aquaculture, weather data, distribution, and insurance delivery, the company was part of a broader cohort exploring how technology could make agricultural insurance more accessible, transparent, and relevant for small-scale producers.

Cultivating Innovation Across Borders

The 2019 Innovation Challenge in India was one of GIIF’s early efforts to engage directly with the agri-insurtech ecosystem. Beyond recognizing promising solutions, the initiative sought to improve understanding of how technology could be integrated into agricultural insurance programs and applied in real-world contexts. This approach extended beyond a single geography or sector.

In subsequent years, GIIF continued to work with partners to convene and assess innovators operating at the intersection of agriculture, insurance, climate, and inclusion. In March 2022, for example, GIIF and the Sankalp Forum jointly launched the Africa AgTech & Inclusive Insurance Challenge, which received more than 200 applications from 23 countries, leading to five finalists and three winners.

Later, GIIF supported the DRC Agribusiness Innovation Challenge, held in Kinshasa in October 2023, which focused on strengthening the Congolese agro-industrial ecosystem and empowering SMEs and smallholder farmers. Ten finalists presented their solutions during the DRC Agribusiness Forum, with three winners: GRECOM-RDC with Nyuki Tech, Kivu Kuku Poultry Farm, and Bilanga Solutions, receiving awards and acceleration support. While operating in very different contexts, these challenges shared a common purpose: fostering collaboration, surfacing locally grounded innovation, and strengthening the links between technology, finance, and agricultural productivity.

Together, these initiatives reflect a consistent practice centered on early engagement, ecosystem building, and collaboration with a diverse set of partners.

From Early Signals to Scaled Solutions

Looking back at the 2019 India challenge, many of the themes explored then have since become more pronounced. Digital platforms have expanded rapidly, accelerated in part by the COVID-19 pandemic. Data-driven services are increasingly embedded across agricultural value chains, and partnerships between technology providers, financial institutions, and insurers have become more tangible.

GIIF’s engagement with Stellapps following the innovation challenge, including interviews and technical profiles published at the time, highlighted the company’s focus on end-to-end dairy digitization, livestock data collection, and financial inclusion through its fintech arm, mooPay. These early discussions emphasized how granular, real-time data could support insurance product design, premium collection, and claims processes, particularly in livestock insurance markets where penetration has traditionally been low.

Importantly, this work was part of a broader effort to understand how innovations might evolve, adapt, and eventually integrate into larger systems, often through collaboration with other actors across the WBG and beyond.

A Window into Impact: IFC in Action

A recent blog published by IFC, Digitizing Dairy: How Technology is Shaping India’s Smallholder Farms, offers a close, ground-level look at how one of these early innovators, Stellapps, is operating today. Through the experiences of smallholder dairy farmers in India, the piece illustrates how digital supply chains, real-time data, and integrated financial services are contributing to productivity gains, income stability, and more sustainable dairy production.

The IFC blog captures a later chapter in a longer journey, one in which early-stage innovation, ecosystem dialogue, and collaboration have given way to scale, investment, and operational maturity. It also underscores the complementary roles that different parts of the WBG can play over time, from innovation support and market development to financing and expansion.

Collaboration as a Constant

Across regions, from India to Kenya to the DRC, the common thread running through these innovation challenges has been collaboration: innovators working alongside insurers, governments, development partners, and investors; platforms designed to serve farmers while connecting multiple actors in the value chain; and institutions aligning around shared goals of resilience, inclusion, and sustainability.

GIIF’s role within this landscape has been to help create the conditions for these conversations to happen early, when ideas are still forming and partnerships can be shaped deliberately. Each idea contributes to a deeper understanding of what is possible, and what is needed, when technology meets agriculture and insurance.

Continuing the Conversation

As digital solutions continue to evolve and expand across agricultural markets, looking back at early engagement efforts offers valuable perspective. Innovation challenges are starting points that help surface ideas, test assumptions, and inform future work.

Readers interested in seeing how one of these early innovators is operating today can explore IFC’s recent blog, Digitizing Dairy: How Technology is Shaping India’s Smallholder Farms, prepared by Daphna Berman and Ankita Bhalla and which provides a detailed look at Stellapps’ current work with smallholder dairy farmers in India. In many cases, the most meaningful impact of innovation only becomes visible years later, given the time and space to grow conversations, partnerships, and ideas.