Ag tech startup Farmobile raises $18M round for global expansion

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.