Category: AgTech

John Deere Acquires ‘See & Spray’ Robotics Startup Blue River Technology for $305m

September 6, 2017

“This is the start of the next chapter in agriculture,” says Kiersten Stead from MGV, an investor in Blue River.

Beehive Management Tech Raises Series A To Avoid Hive Loss

September 6, 2017

The Bee Corp develops decision support software that monitors conditions inside a commercial beehive, focusing on utilizing commoditized IoT sensors and data science.

Ireland Strategic Investment Fund Invests €40m in Agtech with Finistere

September 6, 2017

The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) is launching a €20 million Ireland-focused agtech fund, managed by Finistere Ventures.

Mexico Government Invests $4 million in 3 Local Agtech Funds

September 5, 2017

The aim of the fund commitments is to support the country’s fledgling agtech startup ecosystem and give university researchers a clear reason to commercialize their work.

Harvey: ’Desperate’ Energy Clients Calling for Remote Sensing Tech with Ag Likely Next

September 4, 2017

Local businesses are starting to survey the damage wrought by the category 4 storm and remote sensing has a clear role to play, with companies turning their technology to help the recovery efforts.

Ag Industry Brief: Farm Income Up for 1st Time Since 2013, Innophos $125m M&A, Arable Capital Raises $300m, more

September 1, 2017

Crops, livestock, and dairy are set to see a 3.1% bump this year, Dow and DuPont finalize their merger and more.

UPDATE: Phytelligence Raises $11.95m Towards $16m Series B

September 1, 2017

Agricultural biotechnology and micropropagation company Phytelligence has raised $6.95 million of a potential $16 million Series B closing August 4.

Digital Agriculture Needs a Broad Community of Contributors to Succeed

August 31, 2017

Dr. Naira Hovakimyan describes some of the inherent challenges in applying data analysis to agriculture and offers some thoughts on the solution for the digital agriculture industry going forward.

Aquaponics Operation Raises $6.5m in Series A and USDA-backed Debt

August 30, 2017

The company will soon break ground on a 117-acre property in Boynton Beach, Florida, which contains a 55-acre man-made lake where the firm will operate a “de-coupled” aquaponics system.

What Are Novel Farming Systems?

August 29, 2017

Novel farming systems are new methods of farming living ingredients for food and other applications, many of which are traditionally grown outdoors.

20 Startups Make the Cut for FoodBytes! Austin

August 28, 2017

The pitch competition will feature solutions to food challenges including livestock management, food bi-product up-cycling, and novel plant-based proteins.

Society of Precision Agriculture Australia

What Agtech Can Learn from Precision Ag Veterans

August 28, 2017

Sarah Nolet shares a few lessons for new agtech entrants from the Society of Precision Agriculture Australia’s recent symposium.

Ag Industry Brief: Food Giants Team-Up on Blockchain, Farms Prep for Hurricane Harvey, Cheaper Whole Foods, more

August 25, 2017

South Texas farmers are reportedly racing to harvest crops before the imminent arrival of Hurricane Harvey on Texas’s gulf coast, Amazon is lowering Whole Foods prices, and more.

Cargill Invests in Predictive Ag ‘Data Refinery’ Descartes Labs’ $30m Series B

August 24, 2017

Descartes Labs has raised an oversubscribed $30 million Series B round led by new investor March Capital, with Cargill, Crosslink Capital, and Cultivian Sandbox also participating.

Plant Impact Raises $5m on LSE to Launch New Chemical Crop Enhancers

August 23, 2017

The raise will support late stage development for several chemical crop enhancement products in the company’s R&D pipeline.

Reddit Cofounder & Joe Montana Invest in $6m Seed Round for Stealthy iUNU

August 22, 2017

The round sees iUNU come out of stealth for the first time since pivoting from a plasma lighting business to greenhouse tech.

Report: New Survey Reveals How Little We Know About Global Livestock Antibiotics Use

August 21, 2017

A recent survey shows that the Americas are by far the largest regional buyer of livestock antibiotics for the purpose of growth promotion.

Ag Industry Brief: $2m Cannabis Tech Raise, Organic Hydroponics, NAFTA, more

August 18, 2017

Green Bits, a point of sale software provider for the cannabis industry has raised $2.2 million from Casa Verde Capital, land grant deans defend NAFTA, and no consensus on organic hydroponics.

Agtech Accelerator’s John Dombrosky is Looking to Pharma as a Model For the Agtech Ecosystem

August 17, 2017

We caught up with CEO John Dombrosky to find out how Agtech Accelerator is progressing and how he thinks about the health and challenges of the agtech ecosystem.