Ag tech startup Farmobile raises $18M round for global expansion
October 27, 2017 | Bobby Burch
Ag tech company Farmobile has reaped a substantial Series B funding round that positions the firm to rapidly accelerate across the world.
Jason Tatge
The Overland Park-based company announced Friday that it raised $18.1 million to expand its data platform to help farmers mitigate risks and generate a revenue from the data they own.
The round includes Anterra Capital, AmTrust Agricultural Insurance Services and other undisclosed investors. The new funding pushes the firm’s total capital raised to more than $28 million.
The platform aims to empower farmers to make better choices and to grow their operations, CEO Jason Tatge said.
“Our customers continue to tell us Farmobile’s data as a service platform is the best way to collect, organize, share and sell their agronomic and machine data,” Tatge said in a release. “Our mission is to make sure farmers, worldwide, have access to a cost effective strategy to collect, protect and own their digital assets with a clear path to ROI opportunities.”
Founded in 2013, Farmobile created a device — a Passive Upload Connection (PUC) — that plugs into a tractor’s diagnostic port to collect a variety of data useful to farmers and ag operations. Not only does the data provide information for farmers’ decisions on planting, spraying, fertilizing harvesting and more, it can be sold to third parties via Farmobile’s data marketplace.
“Farmobile’s technology allows farmers to access, control and monetize data like never before,” Dudley Hawes of Anterra Capital said in a release. “This is a team that understands farm data and the power of various data layers as they pull together.”
The funding will allow Farmobile to accelerate development of distribution channels in ag retail, insurance and equipment dealerships, Tatge said.
Farmobile was recognized as one of Startland News’ Top Startups to Watch in 2017 for its disruptive model in the trillion-dollar agriculture industry.
2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Joni Cobb and Pipeline took ‘a leap of faith’ that’s paying off
In 2006, Joni Cobb was busy coaxing Kansas business executives to apply for a program honing their leadership skills. Then a state-subsidized program, Pipeline would cultivate promising entrepreneurs that would tangentially grow the Sunflower State’s economy with their firms. Extolled as rigorous, the Pipeline sales pitch hit snags with its intensiveness and novelty. Skeptical entrepreneurs…
The Pipeline fellowship’s journey to the Emerald Isle in photos
In an educational adventure focused on finance and global business strategy, the Pipeline entrepreneurial fellowship program ventured across the pond for a week of relationship building. I tagged along not only to observe the experience — expect more on that front soon — but to capture some moments with my camera. This smattering of photos, which…
Kansas City startups flex pitch skills in national Kauffman contest
Four Kansas City area startups — and one Lawrence, Kan. firm — have qualified to the top 40 of Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s 1 in a Million pitch competition. The competition offers those who have presented at 1 Million Cups in the last year a chance to snag a $25,000 prize. Hundreds of applicants — who…
Big Bang leverages smart city success, LaunchKC momentum
Editor’s note: This content is sponsored by LaunchKC but independently produced by Startland News. As Kansas City becomes a hotbed for smart city tech, one local startup is providing a spine for streamlined communication among the devices cities will leverage. Kansas City-based Big Bang’s Internet of Things software aims to work as the “central nervous…