Traction Ag Inc., the first cloud-based farm management software that delivers financial solutions to growers across the midwest, today announced it has raised $3 million in Seed funding. The company will use this investment to bring added functionality and value to its integrated farm accounting and operations application.
The funding round includes participation from Hageman Group, Allos Ventures and Elevate Ventures. In addition, Don Aquilano, co-founder and managing director of Allos Ventures, and Shane Hageman, president of Hageman Investments, will join the Traction Ag Board of Directors. The investment and expansion of the board further enhances Traction Ag’s team, with the company solidifying a renewed commitment to independence and focus on customers/stakeholders.
“The agriculture industry is in the midst of a significant shift in demographics,” said Ian Harley, co-founder and CEO of Traction Ag Inc. “The new generation of farm management wants to be on the cutting-edge of production, and that requires access to real-time farm financial analysis. As the only farm accounting and management solution uniquely built for the cloud, we look forward to providing continued support to growers navigating the new digital ecosystem.”
Traction Ag delivers the most extensive suite of farm-specific accounting capabilities in a cloud application, including accounting, operations and a fully digital payroll that automatically files and pays the grower’s Federal and State payroll taxes.
“Farmers need an easy-to-use system that connects field operations to farm accounting to see accurate field, crop, and total farm profitability. 60% of farmers are using accounting systems that aren’t agriculture specific or disconnected from field operations, therefore missing these valuable farm management insights,” said Shane Hageman, president of Hageman Group. “Traction Ag automates data collection to save time, improve accuracy, and equip farmers with financial tools to improve their decision making and peace of mind.”
“We view Traction Ag’s farm accounting solution as a long-term investment for a generational change in agriculture,” said Don Aquilano, co-founder and managing partner at Allos Ventures. “As an employee- and farmer-owned company, Traction Ag is the only fully integrated, farm-specific solution serving the needs of today’s generation of progressive growers.”
Traction Ag will use this round of funding to rapidly expand its platform’s capabilities. Its customer success team will also expand to continue to provide excellent service, which remains an important pillar of the company’s overall solution.
To learn more about Traction Ag, please visit tractionag.com.
Purdue University students competed earlier this year with one objective: who can create the best innovation using soybeans? The answer: Team Smulch. This week, we are joined by Zuhal Cakir, Libby Plassard and Ethan Miller, the founders of Smulch, to talk about their innovation, sizing up the competition and what’s next for these young entrepreneurs.
Taranis recently announced a $40M Series D fundraise to fuel growth, focus on global expansion and invest in new technologies. This week, we are joined by Mike DiPaola and Opher Flohr, the company’s Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Financial and Operations Officer, for a bonus episode to talk about the news, agtech’s evolution and what’s next for Taranis.
Indiana Corn Marketing Council and Indiana Soybean Alliance serve producers across the state, including value creation and innovation for their operations. This week we are joined by Ben Forsythe, Sustainability and Value Creation Director for the organization, to talk about AgriNovus’ newly announced Producer-Led Innovation Challenge.
The Producer-Led Innovation Challenge tasks innovators with optimizing existing on-farm data to create a farmer-focused platform that will increase data accuracy and reliability to impact speed and cost of capital from lenders..
The winning team receives $25K to help commercialize their solution. Are you ready to take on this year’s Challenge? Register your team for our accelerator program and the opportunity to pitch your solution in November! Learn more at agrinovusindiana.com/producer.
New funding will further fuel Taranis’ growth, global expansion, and investment in technologies to make the agri-carbon market a reality for growers
Taranis, the leading AI-powered crop intelligence provider, announced today that it has raised $40 million in Series D funding. The round was led by Inven Capital, a European climate tech fund, with participation from new investors Seraphim Space Investment Trust (‘SSIT’) and Farglory Group, and strong backing from existing investors: Vertex Growth, Viola Ventures, Vertex Ventures Israel, La Maison Partners, Hitachi Ventures, K3 Ventures, UMC Capital, OurCrowd, Micron Ventures, iAngels Ventures, Presidio Ventures (Sumitomo), Cavallo Ventures (Wilbur Ellis), Finistere Ventures, and Eyal Gura. This latest round brings Taranis’ total funding to $100 million.
“We see a tremendous need for crop intelligence at scale as growers deal with soaring costs and a constant need to increase productivity and yield,” said Ofir Schlam, Taranis’ President & Co-Founder. “Over 100 agricultural retailers and advisors are sharing our journey as innovation partners. They rely on Taranis as the critical source of insights into crop health and threats across millions of acres, to drive better outcomes for their growers.”
Taranis’ crop intelligence platform uniquely leverages leaf-level imagery and is powered by cutting-edge machine learning, trained by the industry’s largest crop dataset containing over 200 million AI-data points. In the most recent growing season, Taranis delivered millions of actionable insights to ag advisors and growers, empowering decision making, simplifying crop management, and improving their bottom line.
Petra Sokolová, Investment Manager at Inven Capital, said: “Inven Capital is delighted to lead this important investment round. Agritech innovations are critical in advancing sustainable agriculture, making the most efficient use of our Earth’s resources, and securing the future of farming. Technologies that facilitate crop intelligence and agricultural carbon credits such as Taranis’ solutions have large-scale potential to improve sustainability and enduring prosperity. We are excited about the impact they will have in the local communities they serve, and to support them in their mission.”
“Responsibly increasing global food supply is a critical challenge we face today. We have been following the Agritech market for quite some time as we see the value of using Earth observation data to optimize crop yields,” said Andre Ronsoehr, Investment Principal at Seraphim Space Manager. “When we discovered Taranis, they immediately stood out to us, given their sub-millimeter imaging capabilities. These images unlock early detection of nutrient deficiencies and diseases which is the key to improving crop yields.”
“I’m excited about our growth trajectory,” said Bar Veinstein, Taranis’ CEO. ”The new funding will allow us to accelerate our 3-year plan, rapidly expand our operations, and deliver transformative technology to the market faster. We are delighted to welcome our new investors and continue to be grateful to our existing investors for their support.”
The Indiana Small Business Development Center (SBDC) recognized five small businesses from across the state for completing the Export Indiana Accelerator Program (EIAP). The EIAP is a free, 12-week, annual program offering Hoosier small businesses professional export guidance and leading research resources to create an executable, proactive export business plan.
“I’m always excited to see what the participants of the EIAP have planned for the next stage of their business,” said David Watkins, Indiana SBDC state director and Indiana Economic Development Corporation vice president of small business. “The five businesses that completed the 2022 program have bright futures ahead. Our goal is to support them as they forge new international connections with their products.”
The program, which is available to new and existing exporters, connects companies with Indiana SBDC export-certified advisers who offer services such as business management training, foreign market research, tax, tariff and regulatory compliance in addition to application assistance for the Indiana State Trade and Export Promotion (IN-STEP) program. For more information on the Export Indiana Accelerator Program, visit isbdc.org/eiap.
This year’s awardees include:
ChefsFridge Co., a startup with locations in Anderson and Fishers, which combines aerospace and defense industry expertise with health technology and social impact pioneers to create a cooler capable of -108°F for 21+ days (7-10x longer than competitors).
El Popular, located in East Chicago, which produces chorizo, molé paste and powder, and Mexican chocolate through a fourth-generation family operation.
Hewitt Molding Company, based in Kokomo, which is a customer injection molder and manufacturer of thermoplastic components using the latest in plastic injection molding technologies.
Huber Winery/Starlight Distillery launched in Borden, which is a family-owned-and-operated farm that produces sustainably crafted wines, brandies and whiskies from the 700+ acre Huber estate dating back to 1843. At Starlight Distillery, spirits are produced, aged, blended and bottled on the family estate.
Scout & Zoe’s, located in Anderson, which makes premium pet treats utilizing human-grade raw ingredients that are sourced in the U.S. The treats are produced in the U.S. for multiple species.
Columbus-based Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) and Canada-based Buhler Industries Inc., a tractor manufacturer that operates under the Versatile brand, are planning to integrate the Cummins 15-liter hydrogen engines in Versatile’s equipment. Cummins says the collaboration, and the new powertrain technologies, are leading decarbonization efforts within the agriculture market.
Cummins engines have been exclusively used in Versatile’s four-wheel drive tractors since 1967.
“Versatile is a longstanding manufacturer in the agriculture space with a reputation for excellence in tractors,” said Ann Schmelzer, general manager of Cummins global agriculture business. “Our companies share a commitment to technology, quality and dependability for our customers. Cummins is excited to be working with Versatile as we leverage our respective strengths to create new opportunities for both companies.”
Solinftec continues to revolutionize sustainable farm practices
Solinftec, a global leader in agricultural digitalization, has today announced that it is expanding its Solix Ag Robotics offerings. In addition to its Solix Scouting robot, the company has unveiled its Solix Sprayer robot designed to detect and spray weeds. In partnership with the award-winning manufacturing, research, and development company, McKinney Corporation, who will produce and manufacture the Solix spray robot, this new cutting-edge technology is slated to become commercially available in 2023 to the entire agricultural market including farmers, cooperatives, and ag-retailers.
“Solinftec’s partnership with McKinney Corporation will positively impact our ability to market and deliver Solix Ag Robotics by consolidating Solix’s scalability and accelerating service to the -North American markets,” shared Leonardo Carvalho, Solinftec’s director of operations. “It also supports Solinftec’s goal of making this technology available globally.”
A leading innovator and pioneer in the AgTech space, and champion for sustainable farm practices, Solinftec has designed its scouting and sprayer robots to help producers reduce their chemical inputs and deliver a lower carbon footprint and environmental impact.
The new Solix Sprayer robot will provide autonomous and sustainable spot-spray applications on grower’s fields. Similar to the Solix Scouting robot, the spray robot is powered by four solar panels that control the drive system and the spray system while providing reports on crop populations, weed identification and densities, disease identification and thresholds, insect identification and thresholds, nutrient deficiency identification and densities, NDVI among other layers of maps for data analysis, and much more useful data to the grower virtually 24/7.
The Solix spray robot will provide weed spot-spray maps with analysis on inputs saved and can services up to 96 acres per day depending on the field shape and terrain.
With a goal to change agriculture in order to transform the world, the need and priority to feed the world on a larger scale with a smaller impact has made Solinftec seek out new ways to reimagine agriculture. A Brazil-founded company with its U.S. offices in Indiana, Solinftec is revolutionizing how farmers run their business with end-to-end mission critical solutions, generating up to 70% efficiency improvements by turning data into action. With more than 15 years of experience developing digital ag solutions throughout various geographies and crops around the world, the Solix Ag Robotics, connected and integrated with Solinftec’s innovative ALICE AI platform, works together to orchestrate machine operations and calculates producers’ ultimate needs and objectives and delivers real-time actionable recommendations and actions in a more eco-friendly way.
“Solinftec focuses on really solving structural problems in agricultural management and offers solutions that truly promote low-impact agriculture and not only measure or certify the footprint but offers a real solution to reduce your impact,” shared Carvalho. “Weed detection is a leading issue in fields across the North America and the Solix Sprayer is designed to not only monitor and scan fields like the original scouting version, but detect and manage weeds with technology which allows the device to spot-spray into the plant instead of from above, eliminating drift and social compaction caused by larger machines and help lower environmental impact.”
Pilots for the Solix models are currently running in North America in partnership with the ag cooperative GROWMARK, Purdue University in the U.S., and Stone Farms and University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
In Brazil, the Solix Scouting robot has been manufactured and produced by cutting-edge electronics manufacturing service company, Hi-Mix Eletrônicos and has been commercially available since last April.
“Since the beginning, we have identified a strong culture in Solinftec to the agriculture market, investing heavily in R&D, plus a determination for quality, flexibility and agility for the best time to market,” shared Daniel Carvalho, co-founder Hi-Mix Eletrônicos S/A. “Hi-Mix is proud to work with Solinftec, a company always looking for state-of-the-art in its products and solutions.”
Intelinair, the maker of AGMRI®, today announced AgTech Breakthrough selected AGMRI Enterprise as “AgTech Data Analytics Company of the Year” in the 2022 AgTech Breakthrough Awards. AgTech Breakthrough is a leading market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies, technologies, and products in the global agricultural and food technology markets today.
Intelinair designed the AGMRI Enterprise platform specifically for Ag Retailers. AGMRI Enterprise provides a current, aggregated view of what is happening in customer fields with regularly scheduled flights throughout the season. In addition, the platform provides retailers the potential to see what is happening in their overall geographic area in an easy-to-use format.
Through AGMRI Enterprise, real-time alerts save retailers time, but also provide them the confidence they need in making recommendations to their customers. With this new platform, retailers can elevate their expertise and management recommendations with a clear understanding of what is happening in individual fields, quickly, and gain aggregate insights for their region throughout the growing season.
Available via both Webapp and an iPhone app, new features included with the AGMRI Enterprise services include the Dashboard and Virtual Scout. Dashboard provides retailers quick access to what is happening in all customer fields as well as an understanding of the worst fields through a holistic view of all challenges and with a view specifically for weed pressure, emergence, yield risk and nutrient deficiency. Meanwhile, Virtual Scout offers retailers a bird’s-eye view of the field, but with the ability to see issues before the naked eye can spot them, giving their customers an opportunity to address an issue before it becomes a problem.
The AGMRI Enterprise platform works with either in-season satellite imagery or aerial imagery. Satellite imagery is offered in the U.S. and Canada, while aerial imagery is offered in select counties in Illinois and Indiana, with expansion planned for future growing seasons.
“We’re thrilled to receive this award from AgTech Breakthrough. Comparing our information capture to others in the industry, our product and resolution means retailers have better information to react earlier and save lost production. Better images mean earlier detection,” says Kevin Krieg, Director of Product Marketing for Intelinair. “Retailers are the agronomy experts; we are giving them a tool to elevate their expertise and increase their ability to detect issues and provide direct communication to their customers about what they are seeing or not seeing within a field.”
The mission of the annual AgTech Breakthrough Awards program is to conduct the industry’s most comprehensive analysis and evaluation of agricultural and food technology categories, including Internet-of-Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) based agricultural technologies, farm management, indoor farming, food quality, data analytics and many more. This year’s program attracted more than 1,600 nominations from over 15 different countries throughout the world.
