Agurotech’s Joëlle van den Model

The Amsterdam-based startup provides options that allow farmers to transition from their present methodology of farming to a data-driven way forward for farming.

Utilizing information and insights, Agurotech helps farmers to effectively use assets reminiscent of water.

This week, Agurotech raised €1.5M in Sequence A funding from ROM InWest and Navus Ventures to gas data-driven arable farming.

Each month, we speak to a founder on their quest for funding, and Agurotech co-founder Joëlle van den Model’s mission to influence the farming business is infectious.

What’s Agurotech?

Meals safety disaster just isn’t a distant problem however an ongoing one exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and trade-related insurance policies imposed by international locations.

The mid-year replace of the International Report on Meals Disaster 2022 reveals as much as 205 million persons are anticipated to face acute meals insecurity and be in want of pressing help in 45 international locations.

One resolution to this drawback can be to extend manufacturing, however arable land just isn’t solely shrinking however is going through human-induced threats reminiscent of fast urbanisation, mining, farming, and ranching cattle set off land degradation.

All these actions trigger injury to the nutrient holding capability of the land and over time, make it inconceivable to conduct farming on the land.

Joëlle van den Model, who has a MS in Mathematical Economics from Maastricht College, sees this problem not solely as a tech drawback but in addition as an information drawback.

“There may be most probably not one resolution for this problem,” she says. “It will likely be a mix of extra sustainable farming practices, innovation, higher use of expertise, maybe a change of food plan, extra sustainable logistics and so forth.”

This early realisation of the way to overcome this meals insecurity drove Joëlle van den Model to co-found Agurotech with Lilia Planjyan.

The Dutch startup develops, produces, and delivers {hardware} and software program options to assist farmers with sustainable and data-driven farming.

Its {hardware} and software program options embody sensor expertise, climate stations, and purposes that supply farmers real-time perception into the circumstances of their fields and information that tells farmers what their crops want for optimum development.

“The intuitive software program supplies farmers with real-time insights into soil circumstances, native climate circumstances, and AI-powered predictions,” she explains.

The tip results of deploying Agurotech’s {hardware} and software program options is that farmers enhance their yield and use assets extra effectively.

Think about a farmer rising extra crops in the identical area whereas additionally utilizing much less water and different assets. Agurotech makes that occur.

Impacting the farming business

The standard farming is generally carried out primarily based on instinct, expertise, and what Joëlle calls “intestine feeling.”

She says farmers don’t base their choices on information or information, which results in both underneath or over software of assets and productiveness loss.

With 80 per cent of the world coping with water shortage, the farming business is going through the specter of drought and even the land changing into arid.

“Some elements of the world can’t farm the identical crops as they used to, as a consequence of water shortages,” Joëlle says.

Along with these challenges, farmers are additionally pushed to undertake extra sustainable farming practices.

To beat the pure problem and in addition grow to be sustainable, farmers are turning in direction of data-driven or precision farming applied sciences.

“There’s a large influence that may be made by enabling the farming business to use extra data-driven methods of working,” Joëlle says.

There are lots of of tens of millions of farmers globally, who nonetheless depend on conventional farming.

For Agurotech’s founders, their influence on the farming business will come within the type of expertise that farmers need to use, not solely to enhance their enterprise mannequin but in addition contribute to sustainability targets.

Information is all the pieces

In our hyper-connected world, all the pieces is information besides when it isn’t. Even in farming, all the pieces is information and studying in regards to the breadth of that information from Agurotech is astonishing.

Joëlle tells Silicon Canals that Agurotech’s sensors measure electrical conductivity, soil moisture, and soil temperature at a number of depths.

The climate stations that Agurotech provides to farmers measure native climate circumstances reminiscent of temperature, rainfall, humidity, and temperature.

As soon as the information is collected, Agurotech combines it with agricultural fashions and informs farmers “whether or not or not the circumstances within the fields enable for optimum crop development.”

It doesn’t simply cease there. The software program resolution additionally helps farmers with data they’ll use to extend crop yields.

“Agurotech advises farmers on whether or not their soils want extra irrigation, if the soil has an excellent salinity stage and what the anticipated soil moisture circumstances can be,” provides Joëlle.

All that information wouldn’t be doable with out the sensors and climate stations that Agurotech designs in-house.

Whereas designing its sensors and climate stations, Agurotech confronted the problem that each different firm confronted throughout COVID-19 pandemic: provide chain disruption.

Joëlle says some elements that had been a part of their prototype had a ready time of over 50 weeks and as a startup, Agurotech didn’t have the leverage of a longtime tech firm like Apple to expedite the supply or construct its personal stock.

“This compelled us to revamp important elements of our expertise to permit it to suit extra out there parts,” provides Joëlle.

This redesign course of price Agurotech about half a 12 months’s time however the journey is an instance of the way to overcome advanced issues with less complicated options.

Fundraising with a mission

At Silicon Canals, we’ve documented the battle of Dutch startups to lift early-stage funding extensively.

This funding turns into much more difficult in case you are an influence startup or startup in a area like agtech.

Even Agurotech confronted some challenges whereas going forward with its Sequence A funding spherical.

Joëlle doesn’t mince phrases when she says that traders thought of early-stage startups with a mix of {hardware} and the farming business to be dangerous.

She provides, “They typically required a number of proof factors which had been difficult to present in 2.5 years time.”

For Joëlle and Lilia, each setback is a studying expertise and this expertise made them search for an investor with good strategic match, proper market expertise, and information.

They discovered companions in ROM InWest and Navus Ventures, with whom they see a possibility to construct a robust partnership.

“The 2 traders we discovered complement one another and are very supportive of our marketing strategy,” says Joëlle.

ROM InWest lately backed tex.tracer, which is one other female-led Dutch startup attempting to influence the style business to succeed in its sustainability targets.

Joëlle says they don’t have a concrete plan to lift further funds however does see a possible to develop quicker with a second spherical.

Way forward for Agurotech and data-driven farming

One of many issues that Agurotech is doing in another way is permitting farmers to see its tech in motion and determine for themselves.

“There’s a lot at stake for farmers in terms of their harvest and they don’t simply need to experiment with applied sciences that may doubtlessly put their yield in danger,” says Joëlle.

“We imagine in giving farmers the information that they should help resolution making and supply them with actionable recommendation that’s particular to their soil and plant kind,” she provides.

This course of had led to Agurotech spending lots of time on decoding its sensor measurements and including concrete worth to the every day operations of farmers.

Like many different industries, the agtech business can also be male dominated however like different Dutch feminine founders, Joëlle doesn’t see it as being male or feminine.

She says it’s in the end about constructing the most effective product and suggests feminine founders ought to tackle any “feminine particular” challenges immediately with traders.

With €1.5M at its disposal, Agurotech now plans to scale up its expertise and distribution.

The startup can also be trying to construct sturdy partnerships with completely different business gamers to ramp up market entry and distribution.

It additionally plans to develop internationally however goals to remain rooted in analysis and growth chops.

“We’ll proceed to develop revolutionary options to assist the farming business be more practical, environment friendly and sustainable,” says Joëlle.