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Agtech Funding Sheet: TellusLab Raises $3.1m Seed to Compete with Descartes Labs, Measure Raises $15m for Drones-as-a-Service, more

January 19, 2017

TellusLabs, a satellite imagery and machine learning company, has raised $3.1 million in seed funding led by NY-based early-stage big data investors IA Ventures with participation from Massachusetts-based seed-stage investors Founder Collective, machine intelligence-focused seed funders Hyperlane Venture Capital, and early stage tech investors Project 11 Ventures. The company plans to use the new capital infusion to bring its first product Kernel to new markets. This past year Kernel opened a pilot to provide forecasts of US soy and corn yields. The product’s machine learning algorithms were two weeks ahead of government reporting after being trained on decades of harvest data and spaceborne imagery on 175 million acres of crops. The startups aims to provide accurate and actionable analysis to farmers, commodity traders and hedge funds. TellusLabs claims to be more accurate than another yield-predicting startup Descartes Labs.

Measure, a drones-as-a-service company, which serves the farming and crop insurance markets among others, closed a $15 million Series B led by New Jersey-based IT and consulting firm Cognizant Technology Solutions with participation from private equity firm Hudson Bay Capital Management.

Milk Mantra, an Indian dairy company offering natural milk products in urban environments, raised a $10 million Series D led by State Bank of India-backed Neev Fund with participation from multi-sector, early stage investment firm Aavishkaar Venture Management Services and the proprietary investment arm of Fidelity International Eight Road Ventures.

APANA, a smart wastewater technology management system, closed a $3.5 million Series A with a diverse set of multi-industry investors. Water innovation investor Kurita Water Industries led the round, with participation from high-growth business investor Cowles Company, early stage cleantech backer Element 8, wine maker Fetzer Vineyards, Tucson-based car wash company Mister Car Wash, and transformative urban tech backer Urban Innovation Fund.

Rhythm Superfoods, a natural food snack brand, closed a $6 million Series D led by General Mills’ venture arm 301 INC, SF-based venture firm Blueberry Ventures, and crowdfunding platform CircleUp.

VINO75, a wine e-commerce platform, closed a $1.60 million Series A led by hard-tech and SME startup investors Invitalia Ventures with participation from private equity and venture capital firm focusing on multi-stage investments SICI Sgr.

Ensibuuko, a tech social enterprise building ICT-Mobile solutions for rural dwellers, closed a $500,000 seed round with an unidentified investor. The cloud-based management software for Savings Cooperatives uses mobile and web-based platforms integrating mobile money and SMS to allow rural farmers to mobilize their savings collectively.

GreenPath Food, an Ethiopian organic food company, raised an undisclosed seed round with Ontario-based Engineers Without Borders Canada, which backs people and ideas focused on ending global poverty.

Have funding news? Email [email protected]

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