Top AgTech Startups

The scope of AgTech advancements over the past couple of years is nothing short of astonishing. Today’s growers are equipped with extensive science-based tools, spanning from disease-resistant seeds, precise nutrients, biological crop inputs, data-driven farm management to robotics for boosting on-farm productivity and reducing food waste. In comparison to other sectors, including renewable energy and cleantech, food and agriculture stands out due to its compelling long-term fundamentals, driven by rapidly changing dietary trends and population growth, along with a sharp focus on resource constraints and sustainability. Stakeholders in the agriculture industry, be it farmers or food producers, are realizing the value of embracing digital transformation as a sustainable and scalable way to take agriculture to new heights, all the way from farm to fork.

While IoT is streamlining the aggregation, inspection, and overall distribution of agricultural resources using sensors on equipment and materials, drones are being readily deployed to monitor crops and prepare for drought and other harmful environmental factors. Much like in other major industries, robotics and artificial intelligence are drastically improving productivity and generating higher and faster yields in agriculture. Additionally, RFID sensors are facilitating hassle-free tracking of food from the field to the store, increasing trustworthiness for manufacturers and their responsibility to provide fresh produce and goods along with machine learning predicting the traits and genes that best enhance crop production.

As new technologies continue to emerge, farmers are continuously sifting through myriad startups to zero in on the solutions that best fit their agricultural needs. Understanding the changing times, StartupCity has compiled a list of top 15 AgTech Startups to guide organizations associated in harnessing the power of technology to navigate through today’s agricultural challenges, increase efficiencies, while simultaneously invigorating quality food production and food safety.

In the wake of these technology transitions, we are glad to feature companies who are at the forefront of the latest technological innovations on our annual list of AgTech Startups. From organizations providing diverse technologies and unparalleled knowledge on indoor farming to the ones leveraging advanced LED lights to improve productivity, we have covered them all. In this edition, the spotlight is on companies that are equipping growers with targeted aerial imagery through drones and enabling various livestock industries to fully comply with medication data and traceability via automated systems. That’s not all; we are also featuring startups that bring together data, technology, and automation to accurately predict and visualize field-level forecasts, besides some experts who are changing the status quo of the agricultural industry with leading-edge data-driven smart irrigation solutions.

With several innovative technological capabilities and success stories up their sleeves, these startups are constantly proving their mettle in the field of agriculture. We hope this issue of the StartupCity helps you build the partnership you and your firm needs for fostering a technologically-driven agricultural environment.

We present to you StartupCity’s “15 Most Promising AgTech Startups 2019.”

By combining satellite observations, weather data and machine learning algorithms into field-level forecasts, Agrograph provides precise and timely information on crop returns and other agricultural manufacturing information. Agrograph has the capacity to derive a time series of spectral vegetation indices for 14 plants and 50 countries where the range of crop yields is indicated by bright colors. With more high-quality pictures over the early growing season, the crop identification of Agrograph becomes more precise by July, improving crop acreage projections. With frequent data on what happens in specific fields and across different places, both traders and farmers can make more informed return decisions, and best of all, before competitors have access to the information

The automed device is enabled to calculate, deliver and record livestock medication treatments and features a lightweight, easy-to-use ergonomic design. With the automated adapter spectrum, the automed device can be tailored to suit the needs of all kinds of lifestock. The adapters enable the delivery of medication by injection, drenching, pour-on, and intranasal. The system also offers solution to various livestock industries such as pork, beef, dairy and poultry to meet the demands and specifications of compliance and traceability

With decades of experience in gardening, light engineering, and manufacturing, the Grow Logic team came together to focus on the need for specialty horticultural lighting and environments and was envisioned as an answer to the problems facing the commercial gardener. The information age has brought huge gains to mankind’s efforts in manufacturing and productivity, using data, as a method of extracting wasteful methods and encouraging positive outcomes — but the garden was still mostly a mystery, until now. Grow Logic is founded on the principle that lighting & nutrient delivery systems and atmospheric monitoring & control should not be separated as they are part of the same machine; an artificial controllable habitat geared towards growing the largest amount of desirable biomass possible

ILUMINAR Lighting is a leading provider of quality indoor growing products. ILUMINAR Lighting development team has over 150 years of combined experience in the industry. ILUMINAR Lighting is now venturing further to become a complete sourcing agency now, sourcing products outside their current industry. ILUMINAR Lighting offers solutions in manufacturing, design, engineering, wholesale, logistics, product marketing, product rollout, and logistical transport. Applying the industry-tested quality control processing, manufacturing processes, and quick logistically planning for delivery to new requested products, ILUMINAR Lighting is able to source almost any product you can imagine

By focusing solely on the naturally occurring microbes known as pink pigmented facultative methylotrophs (PPFMs) or M-trophs. St. Louis-based NewLeaf Symbiotics envisions creating a new class of safe, sustainable, and effective agricultural inputs that empower farmers to improve crop health and yield. The company created and developed a bioinformatics computational engine called the Prescriptive Biologics Knowledgebase® to predictively associate microbial genotypes to beneficial crop phenotypes. In 2018, NewLeaf launched several agricultural inputs under the brand name Terrasym®. These products establish a natural, permanent partnership with plants and this symbiotic relationship makes crops stronger, more stable, and tolerant of stress throughout their life cycle

The aerial images that SCA captures allows us to pinpoint coordinates for landing and carrying out ground truthing. As our drones manoeuvre on the ground, according to our aerial coordinates, our drones will probe the soil and collect information on moisture, pH, temperature and salt levels. At the same time, our camera technology incorporated in our drone will capture information underneath the canopy of the plants to provide images to growers on the condition of the plant, in terms of types of pests and diseases present

Scynce [sci-ence] designs & manufactures next-level LED grow lights right here in the USA. Its patented light delivery system, proprietary wireless control app, and water-submersible build quality combine to offer cultivators the power to Grow Deep. The team at Scynce (sci-ence) has developed a new breed of indoor and greenhouse lighting that is challenging the status quo. The company’s focus is on better yields instead of only on power savings. With over two decades of automobile, marine, military, architectural and theatrical LED experience, it shares the next generation of horticulture lighting solutions

SymSoil is a Santa Rosa, CA-based company that offers organic compost to the framers and other growers, helping them to move away from chemical fertilizers. The company’s robust compost organically finds, cultivates, and restores indigenous soil microbes to assist farmers in producing quality products with increased yield. Leveraging, the research of Dr. Elaine Ingham, SymSoil developed a biotech approach to grow six different microorganisms separately and blend them to create a product. In addition to enhancing soil health and crop yield, the company’s compost also offers measures to reduce water usage

VividGro is at the forefront of providing diverse technologies and unparalleled knowledge on indoor farming to maximize crop yields and optimize a scalable growing operation. VividGro offers extensive intelligence products and advisory services known as GroNet and GroAdvisor. GroAdvisor is a high-touch advisory service, where the company leverages their pool of indoor farming experts to deliver solutions to complex challenges that farmers face daily. Through GroNet, a smart farming system, VividGro automates and connects the complete indoor farming environment to enhance productivity and ROI. GroNet is designed in a way that allows it to be used at any place and time using a smart-phone to manage the indoor farm

Bushel

Bushel enables clear and simple business for grain facilities and their growers. Through integrating into a grain facility’s accounting system, Bushel provides growers with instant access to scale tickets, contracts, prepaid, commodity balances, cash bids, and market information through grain facility-branded apps. To date, 1,200+ grain receiving locations are active on the platform, which enables farming operations across the U.S. to utilize Bushel-powered mobile applications. The enterprise aims to connect and enhance the grain industry through digital infrastructure

CiBO Technologgies

CiBO Technologies is a science-based software company that models and simulates agricultural ecosystems. The product combines science and software to solve some of the planet’s most important challenges from food security to resilience. Their proprietary software platform models and simulates complex agricultural ecosystems for any crop and any scenario around the world, providing unique opportunities for customers to accelerate R&D, optimize crop production and use, improve sustainability and reduce waste. Founded by Flagship Pioneering and backed by investors such as Generation Investment Management and Founders Fund, CiBO Technologies’​ solutions are built on robust modeling, simulation and analytics capabilities which are validated in more than 150 peer-reviewed publications

CropMetrics

CropMetrics is a Nebraska-based AgTech company that is changing the status quo of the agricultural industry through its leading-edge data-driven smart irrigation solutions. Through a single integrated solution that combines in-field sensors and data analytics, along with the guidance of trusted agricultural advisors, CropMetrics is helping farmers gain more confidence about their irrigation practices. With their solutions, farmers can save up to 20–50 percent water use, increase yields by 5–20 percent, and gain a total profit margin to the tune of $30–70/acre. Concurrently, CropMetrics also works closely with agronomists that provide accurate crop metrics to the farmers for their irrigation to reduce water applications by 20–50 percent while increasing production from the field

DroneDeploy

DroneDeploy is the leading cloud software platform for commercial drones and is making the power of aerial data accessible and productive for everyone. Trusted by leading brands globally, DroneDeploy is transforming the way businesses leverage drones and aerial data across industries, including agriculture, construction, mining, inspection, and surveying. Simple by design, DroneDeploy enables professional-grade imagery and analysis, 3D modeling, and more from any drone on any device. The enterprise’s specialty includes drones, software, and mapping

Grow Computer is a designer of an IoT operating system for controlled environment whose first target market is indoor agriculture. The enterprise’s platform digitizes atoms to bits into a consistent data model that can enable a new world of features and functionality for farmers, growers, educators, and entrepreneurs. With the platform, the enterprise gives growers the tools to monitor, control, and optimize their systems in new digital ways, and opens up a new world of software services and data sharing. Grow Computer focuses on hydroponics, sensors, IoT, urban agriculture, operating system, controlled environments, and indoor agriculture

Indigo Ag

Indigo develops microbial and digital technologies that improve grower profitability, environmental sustainability, and consumer health

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