South Australian agtech startup Optomni, has raised $200,000 in a Seed round led by Skalata Ventures to optimise the fresh food supply chain. Founder and CEO Murad Mekhtiev said around 45% of total fruit and vegetable production in Australia is wasted and nearly half of that happens in the supply chain. Optomni aims to reduce… Read more »
Sydney agtech startup Lleaf has raised $3.5 million in a bridging round for its light-emitting plastics for indoor agriculture. The round was led by Danish investment firms ALFA Ventures and 2 Degrees, with additional support from The University of New South Wales and deep tech hub Cicada Innovations, where Lleaf is based. 2 Degrees is the climate-focused… Read more »
DataFarming cofounder Tim Neale has been at the forefront of precision agriculture for more than two decades. In that time, he’s seen the shift from being out in the field physically taking measurements and making observations to a digital revolution. But until now, the update in big data use for greater productivity has been slower… Read more »
Queensland startup LYRO Robotics has raised $1.5 million in a pre-Series A to help local farmers get their produce to market. The round was backed by several international and domestic investors, including Artesian/Boab AI and AgFunder joining original investor, Japan’s Toyo Kanetsu. LYRO has built the world’s first autonomous robot, which can pick up delicate fresh… Read more »
Silicon Valley agrifood innovation investor SVG is setting up shop in Melbourne with a $50 million fund to back local agtech startups. SVG will launch its $50 million THRIVE Australia Venture Fund to invest in Australia and New Zealand agtech startups. Victorian economic development minister Tim Pallas visited California on the weekend to meet with SVG… Read more »
South Australian agtech startup GoMicro is hoping to tackle the $1 trillion problem with an app-based device that costs just $1 to produce and attaches to a smartphone. GoMicro CEO and founder Dr Sivam Krish has developed GoMicro’s Spotcheck App and a phone attachable magnifier designed for accurately assessing the level of ripeness or spoilage… Read more »
Move over plant-based burgers, insect-based pet food is the new focus in reducing the use of animal proteins to feed the world, whether you have two legs or four. Sydney entrepreneur Shaun Eislers was previously a banker before launching his startup BuggyBix, a combination of climate and ag tech, using insects – black soldier fly lavae… Read more »
Precision farming is about to get a whole lot more precise with a wave of 5G technology showing economic and productivity benefits to the viticulture industry. Growers are increasingly interested in the advantages that 5G has to offer the industry by saving money, time and maximising yield. Platfarm is a spatially based tasking and GPS… Read more »
US-based Australia agtech startup Regrow Ag has raised $50 million (US$38m) from leading American investors to help the farming sector meet net-zero targets. The round is led by Tom Steyer and Katie Hall’s Galvanize Climate Solutions. Existing investors including Cargill, Main Sequence Ventures, Ajax Strategies, Neglected Climate Opportunities (NCO), Microsoft’s M12 and others returned, joined… Read more »
From an idea conceived over a farm kitchen table to a $100 million business in seven years, Australian livestock management platform AgriWebb has been anything but an overnight success, says co-founder and Executive Chairman Justin Webb. Looking back on setting up AgriWebb with John Fargher and Kevin Baum in 2014, self-confessed “math geek” Justin Webb… Read more »
Cicada Innovations is launching a grain agtech challenge to uncover innovative deep tech solutions that will help to drive sustainability and improve profitability in the grain growing industry. The GrowLab Grains Challenge, a collaboration with the Grains Research & Development Corporation (GRDC), is now seeking applications from entrepreneurs, grain growers, and researchers. Successful applicants will take part in… Read more »
Agtech startup Regrow has raised US$17 million (A$23.5m) in a series A for its carbon measurement software for the agri-food supply chain sector. The raise was led by new US climate change focused VC Ajax Strategies, Tenacious Ventures and Cargill. Existing investors include Microsoft’s venture fund M12, the Jeremey and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust’s Neglected… Read more »
Tenacious Ventures, a specialist agrifood tech venture capital firm, has build a $35 million fund to invest in early-stage startups with a focus on climate change resilience. The Tenacious Ventures Fund I achieved its first close in March 2020 at just over $20 million, backed by $8 million from the Australian Government Clean Energy Finance… Read more »
Innovative Australian food and agri startups have the chance to showcase their businesses on the world stage through the international FoodBytes! Pitch program, which is currently open for applications. FoodBytes! is global agribusiness bank Rabobank’s food and agriculture innovation platform – designed to drive collaboration between startups, corporate leaders, investors and farmers as part of… Read more »
A New Zealand agritech startup fitting cows with GPS-enabled solar collars to “guide” cows around pastures using sound and vibrations, creating virtual fences via an app, has raised A$29 million in a series B round. Halter says it is bridging the gap between human and animal understanding to transform farming. The series B round was… Read more »
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