AgriChill: Solar Cold Storage Rental Network

Business Overview

Overview

AgriChill is a low-cost, solar-powered cold storage network designed to serve small and medium-scale agricultural producers in emerging markets prone to high post-harvest losses. Through a tech-driven rental marketplace, farmers and agriculture supply chain actors can access reliable, sustainable refrigeration at flexible weekly or monthly rates. This solution closes a critical supply chain gap, improves food security, and enhances farmer incomes.

Key Features

• Solar-powered modular units: Installed near rural markets or farm clusters, the units run entirely on green energy.
• Mobile reservation and payments app: Enables digital bookings, flexible payment terms, and real-time monitoring of available capacity through a simple interface, even on basic smartphones.
• Marketplace and aggregation: Farmers and sellers can join together to rent larger units at lower per-user costs, improving affordability and utilization.

User Experience

Farmers, co-ops, and traders can reserve storage remotely, manage inventory, and track storage usage via SMS or the mobile app. Daily usage and local pricing updates are provided. Solar reliability ensures produce remains fresh with minimal grid outages or fuel cost unpredictability.

Market Opportunity

Over 30% of agricultural produce in many developing markets is lost post-harvest, primarily due to inadequate cold storage infrastructure. AgriChill addresses a $4 billion+ market in Africa and South Asia alone. By reducing food spoilage and supporting smallholder farmers, the business has significant social and environmental impact, while unlocking recurring revenue. The solution can be expanded globally and adapted for other temperature-sensitive supply chains.