Document: FarmLink raises additional $24.6M for ag tech
January 19, 2016 | Bobby Burch
Ag tech startups in Kansas City are plowing a promising 2016.
Kansas City-based FarmLink recently secured nearly $24.6 million in investment capital for its farming technology, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The company offers a suite of tech services for farmers, including analytics platform TrueHarvest and machinery sharing platform MachineryLink Sharing.
TrueHarvest is a yield benchmark tool that helps farmers validate the impact of environmental variables to optimize production of crops. Through the MachineryLink platform, farmers can pay to use farm equipment when needed and also earn money for renting their equipment when it’s not in use. FarmLink says that lessees will have on-demand access to an inventory of equipment at varying costs, offering them enhanced flexibility, cash flow and revenue.
FarmLink has raised about $67.8 million in capital to date with OpenAir Equity Partners as its primary investor. Founded in 2010, the company has 80 employees and was co-founded by Ron LeMay, David Govert and David Forsee.
FarmLink’s most recent raise comes on the heels of another local ag tech success story. Farmobile announced in December that it raised $5.5 million in a Series A round from a large Amsterdam-based venture capital firm. Founded in 2013, Farmobile invented a device — or Passive Upload Connection (PUC) — that plugs into a tractor’s diagnostic port to collect a variety of farming data, such as info on planting, spraying, fertilization, harvest, fleet management and more.
2016 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Kansas City’s Five Elms injects $4M in Omaha startup
Kansas City-based Five Elms Capital recently led a round of financing for an Omaha blog-hosting startup. Five Elms led a $4 million round for Flywheel, allowing the startup to add features to its platform for designers and agencies, as well as beef up marketing and sales operations. Linseed Capital and the Nebraska Angels, a network…
Rapid growth propelling grand ambitions for PopBookings
Only weeks after releasing its latest product, event staffing tech firm PopBookings is hiring staff and looking for capital to accommodate for rapid growth. In the last six weeks the Kansas City-based startup has added thousands of users to its platform on which staffing agencies can hire and manage temporary labor for specific events. Now…
Video: Foosball and whimsy are integral to the RFP365 ethos
Kansas City foosball virtuoso Stuart Ludlow knows his way around the fútbol table. With a strike rivaling a Black Mamba’s, Ludlow’s instincts and supple wrist on the foosball pitch puts to shame most any adversary. But perhaps equally as cunning is Ludlow’s savvy to integrate the table game into the workplace culture of RFP365, of which he’s a co-founder. Founded in 2012,…
MIT-modeled mentorship arrives in Kansas City
A new MIT-modeled mentorship program is available to Kansas City entrepreneurs. The Enterprise Center in Johnson County is now accepting applications for its new mentoring program, the Growth Mentoring Service, which adopts the approach of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Venture Mentoring Service. The free, two-year program is welcoming all entrepreneurs who meet its guidelines…