Agricultural systems are inextricably linked to carbon and nitrogen cycles, but emissions calculations and the science and data for effectively monitoring land and agriculture are still evolving. WollemAI, a climate-tech startup from Australia, has built a platform to reduce the complexity of meeting these challenges for all agricultural stakeholders on the transition to net zero.
The company hopes to deliver what it says could be the world’s most precise land and agriculture climate analytics for financial institutions, insurers, large companies and governments. It plans to achieve that by integrating billions of data points for compliant emissions reporting and tracking, and to provide climate change forecasting and management, and detailed reporting from the hyper-local level right through entire supply chains.
The startup’s AI-powered, cloud-based platform provides automated reporting at scale for consumer goods companies, agri-business and commodity traders, as well as handlers needing supply chain information for reporting and traceability. The platform can also assist owners or managers of agriculture assets to measure emissions and make decisions around reducing them while ensuring continued access to markets.
WollemAI was selected to participate in the AgriFutures Catalyst program in 2024, a program designed by AgriFutures growAG. to support women in agrifood tech and innovation.
The company’s name comes from the Wollemi Pine, Australia’s oldest living tree that has survived the impacts of climate for 200-million years. It is also an Aboriginal word meaning “look around you, keep your eyes open and watch out.”
Corporations are being asked to use this same vigilance to ensure a sustainable climate future based on nature’s positive solutions.
AgFunderNews interviewed cofounder and CEO Sam Sneddon to learn about the company’s future plans. Sam is a long-time entrepreneur and sustainability leader, and a former Data Workstream Chair and Sustainability Steering Committee Co-Chair of the IoT Alliance Australia.
AgFunderNews (AFN): How would you describe the Australian agrifoodtech ecosystem today? How has it changed in recent years with regards to the amount of resources or investors available to you?
Sam Sneddon (SS): Agrifood as an investment sector in Australia is still quite nascent, which is surprising because agriculture is obviously fundamental to our survival.
That said, there has been progress. There are a number of targeted accelerators, and funds like Cultiv8 Funds Management have opened to invest specifically in this sector, and government support via RDCs including platforms like AgriFutures growAG. .
Agriculture has been called out as a focus area for climate change and regulations in this area are developing at pace, so there are increasing tailwinds for the space.
In terms of resources, what’s interesting is the creative ways people are applying existing technologies to agrifood problems. We have taken AI and applied it differently, but there are examples from across the technology spectrum from robotics to digital assets to microbiology, and that’s very exciting.
AFN: What agrifood challenges is Wollem AI trying to solve? How did the business come to be?
SS: There is a growing scrutiny on the food system and its contribution to climate change. With that has come a recognition that actually, it’s very difficult to accurately measure the emissions, and forecast climate change impacts, at an individual farm level. The three WollemAI cofounders met serendipitously at a time when we were looking at the same problem through different lenses: financial risk modeling, sustainability frameworks, and AI and ML.
AFN: What do the next five years look like for you and your business?
SS: We are scaling well here in Australia and our next step will be Southeast Asia; we are having some early talks with institutions in Singapore now. We are doing a small pre-Series A raise to help us build out the resources to deliver to current customer demand. Next year we will be looking to the US market, and will undergo a Series A in early 2026. Through to 2030 we hope to be the vendor of choice for institutions and corporates globally to measure, report on and manage climate risk across emissions, transition and physical risk.
You can find this and other startup interviews in our latest Asia-Pacific AgriFoodTech Investment Report 2024, together with the most up-to date data and insights on agrifoodtech investments in the region.
