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
Sprint Accelerator firms hiring, offering meet-and-greet
The new firms at the Techstars-led Sprint Accelerator program are already growing. While many are looking for interns, seven of the 10 mobile tech companies in the three-month accelerator are looking to hire staff. The companies, which entered the Kansas City-based accelerator on Feb. 22, each nabbed $120,000 in capital as part of the program,…
Behavioral health startup announces acquisition, name change
Behavioral health tech firm ABPathfinder is blazing a new path thanks to a recent acquisition. In addition to a name change, the Overland Park-based firm announced Thursday that it purchased Phoenix-based Ensure Billing to beef up the company’s services. The new entity has rebranded to become Pathfinder Health Innovations. Acquiring an insurance billing company allows…
New $20M fund supercharges VC dollars in Kansas City
In conjunction with a metro-wide effort to boost the area economy, Kansas City will soon have a new co-investment fund that aims to accelerate early-stage businesses. As part of the KC Rising economic initiative, the “KC Rise Fund” hopes to improve a common gripe in Kansas City’s entrepreneurial community that there’s not enough capital to…
Cut the crap: How to discern worthwhile advice
In my early days as an entrepreneur, I ran into a lot of consultants who claimed to be “experts” and guaranteed they could help me out. Then I’d do some fact-checking and discover they were neither reliable nor experts, and their advice wasn’t worth the space in our email inboxes. In the last few years,…