Sencrop closes $18m Series B round to go global with its ag weather stations

Sencrop, a French startup providing weather analytics services for agriculture, has just raised $18 million in Series B funding.

The round was led by Jerusalem Venture Partners. EU-backed EIT Food, Stellar Impact, IRD Management, and Sencrop’s existing shareholders — including BPIfrance, Demeter IM, and NCI Waterstart — also invested.

Sencrop closed a $10 million Series A round in January 2019, using the funding to expand its network of weather stations and its user base. It now serves around 20,000 farmers across several European countries, including Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and the UK, in addition to its native France.

Founded in 2016, the Lille-based startup plans to deploy its latest Series B funds to launch into North America and other overseas markets while strengthening its existing footprint.

It will also use some of the capital to open an extension at the new International Foodtech Center in Israel.

“Sencrop’s mission is to democratize precision farming and reduce crop risks for farmers,” Martin Ducroquet, co-founder and general manager, said in a statement.

“We have developed a unique microclimate technology which [allows farmers] to access ultra-precise and ultra-local information for better daily monitoring of their crops and in-field risks.”

Counting farmers, fruit growers, and winegrowers among its clientele, Sencrop is able to provide its “ultra-local” weather data through its network of internet-connected weather stations. With the insights derived from this network, farmers are better placed to mitigate the risks faced by their crops – while also limiting the impact of their operations on the environment by optimizing their chemical and water usage.

The startup’s app offers farmers weather monitoring services, allowing them to anticipate the relative risk of extreme weather conditions, frost, mildew, and other hazards. It also provides information on disease and pest development conditions, and can assist growers with irrigation management.

Using Sencrop’s app, farmers can optimize the use of inputs; for example, by spraying only when the weather conditions are favorable.

Other startups providing localized weather data and analytics to farming operations include Israel’s Agrio, Ghana’s Esoko, UK-based Wikilimo, and Mertani in Indonesia.

“Sencrop’s microclimate technology is now used on a daily basis by a large community of farmers in more than 20 countries,” Michael Bruniaux, the startup’s co-founder and CEO, said in a statement.

“The reasons for this strong adoption lie in the simple, collaborative, and impactful nature of our solution. As agricultural input prices are rising and weather is becoming even more unstable and critical, Sencrop enables farmers to make the best decisions every day to reduce crop risks and limit environmental impact, while increasing their profitability.”