Ag tech firm Farmobile reaps big multi-million dollar investment
December 18, 2015 | Bobby Burch
Agriculture company Farmoblie reaped substantial funding to accelerate development and distribution of its technology to collect data from farm machinery.
The Kansas City-based firm snagged a $5.5 million Series A round of equity investment led by Amsterdam-based Anterra Capital.
Founded in 2013, Farmoblie created a device — or Passive Upload Connection (PUC) — that plugs into a tractor’s diagnostic port to collect a variety of data useful to a farmer. The company, which to this point has been self-funded, created software to provide information for farmers’ decisions on planting, spraying, fertilization, harvest, fleet management and more.
A Farmobile PUC
“Data is one of the most valuable things a farmer harvests today,” Founder Jason Tatge said in a release. “Today’s announcement is a huge win for farmers around the world who want to put their data to work. Farmers ought to own and directly profit from the information they produce. It’s that simple.”
The company’s proprietary tools standardize geo-located agronomic and machine data, Farmobile is “a champion for farmer data rights, ownership and data portability” and focuses on “strengthening existing farmer relationships and building tools to reduce the frictions of data portability.”
Farmoblie’s technology seems to be a perfect fit for Anterra’s focus on financing the growth of firms creating sustainable food and agricultural offerings. The venture capital firm’s mission is in part to support “innovation in the way we produce, move and consume food.”
“We are investing in an experienced team with a superior product that is addressing a large market opportunity,” Anterra Capital partner Dudley Hawes said in a release. “We’ve been looking for technology that can demonstrably make farms more profitable, at scale. Farmobile has both the vision and the grit necessary to spark a revolution in the use of farm data.”
Tatge, a member of the Pipeline organization, has long been an advocate of empowering farmers through data sharing.
“No one should ever know more about a farm than the farmer,” Tatge said in the release. “Farmobile provides a clear alternative to Big Ag’s vertical data silos. We can’t wait to make a difference for thousands of new customers around the world.”
Check in for more on this story.
2015 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
$18M buyout of TomboyX shares shows investing in women pays off, says Women’s Capital Connection
Women are winning in Kansas City, said Kelly Sievers as 24 members of Women’s Capital Connection receive their return from an $18-million buyout of their shares in a Seattle woman’s startup. “They’re getting a great infusion of capital to grow even more and we also still have money in the company because we invested a…
Bungii launches on-demand hauling in Chicago; quirks of new markets steering KC startup’s agility
Bungii is quickly seeing results in the third-largest U.S. city, as the sharing economy startup leaves its tire prints on yet another market. “It’s early, but we are seeing very positive KPIs [key performance indicators] from the Chicago launch. It’s our fastest-growing record to date,” said Ben Jackson, co-founder of Bungii, which was founded in…
Connecting for Good refurbishes The Surplus Exchange with merger championing digital inclusion
Two Kansas City nonprofits are melding their expertise into a spearhead against the digital divide. “This is just the beginning of what will be a long-term love affair between Connecting For Good, digital inclusion, environmental leadership, and the Greater Kansas City metro and regional area,” said Tom Esselman, CEO of Connecting for Good. The Kansas…
Life kicked me around — then I found E-Scholars, says student-turned-UMKC mentor
Editor’s note: This article is sponsored by the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Regnier Institute, but was independently produced by Startland News. Sticky, intricate, and at times invisible, Terri Jordan’s startup journey is a web spun of complexity, creativity and passion, she said. “I would’ve never met my business partner if I hadn’t said, ‘Hey, would…