CropX, the Israeli irrigation and sensor technology company, has raised a further $1 million towards its Series A round from strategic investors. This takes the startup’s Series A to an oversubscribed $10 million.
Robert Bosch Venture Capital and the Flextronics technology accelerator Lab IX have joined investors from the first round, which closed on $9 million in June 2015.
These first round investors included agtech VC Finistere Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, the venture fund of Google chairman Eric Schmidt, Israeli agtech VC GreenSoil Investments and OurCrowd.
“CropX is setting the bar for adaptive irrigation and Ag IoT, so it is a huge validation when strategic investors like Flex and Robert Bosch Venture Capital invest to help us drive these technologies to wider adoption in the United States and globally,” said Arama Kukutai, chairman of CropX and partner at Finistere Ventures.
CropX will use the funding and strategic partnerships to expand its presence and adoption in the US, where it currently serves 20 farms. It will also focus on product development and today unveiled the release of a new version of its sensor.
This wireless, screw-like sensor is easy-to-install taking four minutes as opposed to CropX’s previous model which took 20 minutes, according to a press release. Farmers will usually need around 2-3 per field, and they cost $380 each with an annual subscription, which according to soil consultant Damon Dowdy is relatively cheap.
“Moisture sensors are the most important part of the soil monitoring mix, but the options to date have been complicated, cumbersome and extremely expensive,” wrote soil consultant Damon Dowdy in the press release. “I’ve seen CropX in action, and it worked flawlessly. Farmers will readily embrace the CropX technology once they realize that it can deliver immediate ROI.”
CropX’s software platform and sensors create irrigation maps to help farmers automatically apply the right amount of water to different parts of the same field in what’s called adaptive irrigation. The company is also exploring advances in nutrition, plant protection, planting, and harvesting, according to the press release.
“Our vision goes far beyond row crops. We want to make adaptive irrigation a global endeavor, and you can only do that by moving the lab into the soil and the resulting data into the cloud,” said CropX CEO Isaac Bentwich. “More efficient water usage should start on the farm, but there is no reason for it to end there. We need to make better use of our water supply across the board – from millions of acres of commercial row crops and thousands of orchards and organic farms to golf courses and the smart homes of the future. Adaptive irrigation has the potential to save billions of gallons of water each year while driving better outcomes for farmers, business and consumers alike.”
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