GreenSoil Investments is betting on big data solutions

Big data is often a big problem in ag. Many farmers do not have the time or energy to interpret it, and some data is often useless to the practicalities on the farm unless it is synthesized with other databases. But, one Israeli investment firm is betting that it’s found a company that will make sense of the data jumble.

Last week, GreenSoil Investments announced its fifth portfolio investment. GreenSoil Investments focuses on Israeli ag and food ventures, and recently committed to an investment in Phenome Networks, a company that promises to simplify ag data use and understanding.

Phenome Networks, a company that sells the world’s leading cloud-based system for plant breeding management and analytics, says they will use this investment to expand their product into the international market. Already selling to half of Israel’s market, Phenome Networks was founded in 2008 as a result of an interdisciplinary Ph.D. thesis by IT graduate Dr. Yaniv Semel under the supervision of geneticist Prof. Dani Zamir at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

“Phenome Networks addresses a true pain-point for many breeders – from large seed companies to research institutes” said Gideon Soesman, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of GreenSoil Investments. “Even large, sophisticated breeders often do not manage their data efficiently and interactively. We are talking about a multi-billion dollar market in which progress is critical to increase crop yields and produce food for a growing world population.”

Dr. Semel, Phenome Networks’ Co-Founder and CEO, explained why Phenome Networks’ approach is so promising. “Our solution was developed in collaboration with leading plant scientists and provides our customers with a user-friendly, customizable and integrative solution,” he said. “We simplify the lives of our customers who save hours each week on data entry, tracking and synthesis; while our analysis tools help them reach better decisions that were previously based on ‘guestimates’”.