EHARVEST.

COM
By:- (Group-3)
Aneesh Singla
Apra Bisht
Jasmeen
Vikas
Vikas Gupta
 Introduction
• Electronic harvest has been developed to encourage
the use of the resources available on the internet
and to advance agriculture.

• To help farmers harvest the internet by finding

websites and information quickly.

• Spend a little time, get online and check out what is

out there, you will be impressed.  
 Industries: Food, Agriculture
 Commerce Types: B2B
 Commerce Services: business directory,news,
 Region: World
 VISION

To become the worldwide internet portal of

choice for production agriculture.
 Business Model

@ Portal Services
@ E-business
@ Business to Business Exchanges
 Portal Services

 Provide valued services to the farming

community.
 Value added services are provided for free to
establish loyal customers.
 E-Business
 Business to consumer oriented or Consumer
to Consumer oriented.

 Certain of the businesses would be owned by

eharvest while others would be made
available by strategic alliances.
 Business to Business Exchanges

• Virtual marketplace for brokers or producers.

• Marketplaces facilitate the trading of goods

like weaner pigs, spent herns or transportation
services.
 Marketing Strategies
• Small to medium to large sized farmers and other
agricultural business people.
• Developing a trusting and valuable relationship
with target market creates barriers to entry and
competitive advantage.
• Needed to make Eharvest attractive to target
market.
• Expansion by developing existing websites and
acquiring other websites.
• Focused on niche market.
• Increased traffic levels.
• Ensure ongoing usage and
continued loyalty to the site.
• Develop Eharvest into one of the leading
agricultural brand names.
 Challenges
• Focused on niche groups.
• Niche groups had disparate interests.
• Number of players were evolving in this
industry.
• Eharvest experienced huge losses.
• Difficulty in arranging the funds.
 The Agriculture and Food Industry
• One of the Largest Industry in the world.

• Deals with the Cultivation of Animals,

 Plants, Fungi and other life forms for Food, Fiber, and other
products used to sustain life
• Major players :- United States, Canada, European Union and
Australia.
Cont….
• Number of farms were decreasing
but the intensity and size of farms were
increasing
• Framing population was going niche.
• Traditionally it was Labor Intensive Industry
and focus on Low Value Commodity but went
under a change.
 The Potential for “ecommerce”
• Ecommerce facilitated farmers with the
opportunity to create value.
• Helps in forming customer interface.
• Internet platform allowed them to develop a
community of collegial and trusting
relationships.
Cont….
• Leading internet companies strategies were to
reach mass market but eharvest was targeting
niche market.
• With the use of ecommerce such valuable
market does not require huge investment.
Competitor Positioning
• Number of players attempted to become the
dominant force.
• Management of eharvest.com were
positioning themselves to have both strong
portal plan and strong ecommerce plan.
• Many companies were engaged in forming
alliances.
 Financials
• Eharvest company experinced a loss due to its
expenditures on software and website
development, marketing and developing
various content relationships.
• Negative earning and cash flows were
expected to continue.
• Eharvest require around $5 to $10 million to
support its immediate expansion.
• Solution for creating a defensible position
would be by creating e premier website that
delivers excellent content and met customer
needs better than competitors.
 Potential Funders
• First sought funding from Canadian Venture
Capital Industry.

• Later in Silicon Valley.

• Brand-name Venture Capitalists provided two

benefits:
– High Initial Valuations
– Chances of Initial Public Offering
 Other Options
• Canadian Chartered Bank
– Offered Cdn $ 1 Million.
– Substantial Change in Company’s Value.

• Chicago based divine interVentures

– Known for Helping the Investees Grow.
– Expected to Provide the Highest Money Value.
– But Terms May not be Management Friendly.

• AgWeb.com
– Internet Site focusing on Content.
– Recently Raised Substantial Funds.
 Valuation Challenge
• Uncertain Future Cash Flows.

• Hence, a risky proposition.

• Alternative approach of Evaluating the Recent

Transactions
– XS Ag Inc.
– DirectAg.com
 Competitive Positioning
• High eCommerce Plans and Low Portal Plans
– XS Ag

• High eCommerce Plans and High Portal Plans

– Direct Ag
– eHarvest
 As Mr Knudsen would you make an offer to
eharvest.com?What would be the essential elements of
the offer?
 
The essential elements of the offer are as
follows:-
• Deliver valuable management and business
information
• Offers news and information on agricultural related
topics
• Innovative information about the products and
services to the global Agriculture and Food industry.
Cont…
• Provides a wide range of online advertising and
marketing products and services.
• Provides surplus agricultural products ,seeds and
fertilizers.
• Addition of farm equipments and veterinary
products.
• Strong portal plan
• Strong e-commerce plan