119 Top AgTech Companies & Investors

Posted 13th April 2018 by Jane Williams

2017 was a big year for the AgTech industry, with a record $10.1 billion in investments and an increase of 29% from 2016. Looking forward, we decided to put together a list of 119 top AgTech start-ups and investors.

In this article, we’ll be talking through the results that were gathered from the report, which you can view here.

Whether you’re looking for an investor from seed to series or you’re just interested in the market, you are sure to find this resource useful.

Precision Agriculture and Predictive Data Analytics

With the world population set to increase by 30% over the next thirty-five years, there is increasing pressure on food and water supplies. [1] To meet the demand, food production will need to increase from 8.4 tonnes to almost 13.5 tonnes a year by 2050 [2] and in order to increase food production, the efficiency of farming methods and crop yield will need to be improved.

With its ability to enable farmers to utilise big data and predictive analytics to address farm-related issues, increase agricultural efficiency, and optimise herbicide and pesticide application, it is possible that the Internet of Things (IoT) and predictive analytics companies will help farmers meet these targets. Additionally, more and more farmers are adopting high-tech agricultural devices, such as drones and sensors, to work with the weather, rather than against it. SENCROP’s ‘connected ag-weather station’ can visualise forecast data to enable farmers to foresee rainfall, humidity, temperature, and wind speed in locations that are specific to their plots. Farmers can also access record and historical climate data to build year-to-year comparisons, to enhance crop protection and monitoring.

In a survey, 60 percent of farmers cited that precision farming will be the most influential trend affecting farming practices and structure through 2030. [3] As the report demonstrates, there are a number of investors, including Main Sequence Ventures and Cisco Investments, who have invested in companies that are helping farmers harness the power of precision agriculture, such as Flurosat, Prospera Technologies, Agrible, ZedX, Inc., CropZilla, and Gamaya. This is a rapid-growing market that is gathering a lot of attention from investor companies.

Biostimulants and Agricultural Biologicals

Biologicals involve the use of beneficial microbes and novel strains to enhance crop protection through nitrogen fixation, promote efficient water usage, increase crop yield, and improve disease and insect resistance. Biostimulants, on the other hand, differ from nutritional fertilisers and involve mixture of agricultural products, including: micro-organisms, microbial/bacterial inoculants, biochemical materials, amino acids, enzymes, plant hormones, humic and fulvic acids, and seaweed extracts.

Some of the fastest growing segments in agricultural inputs are biological products and biostimulants and over the next few years, the biostimulants market is expected to grow by over 10 percent each year. By 2025, it is expected to grow to over 4.1 billion US dollars. [4]

By analysing the full list of AgTech start-ups and investors, it is apparent that investors are showing a growing interest in the agricultural biologicals and biostimulants market, as companies such as Concentric, Hexafly, GreenLight Biosciences, and Agbiome have received funding within the past two years.

Plant Gene Engineering

Genome editing technologies are key to introducing new crop traits and carrying out gene studies, promoting disease resistance in plants, improving crop yield, raising agricultural productivity, and reducing the need for harmful pesticides. According to Grand View Research, the global genome editing market is anticipated to reach 8.1 billion US dollars by 2025. [5]

CRISPR-Cas9 in particular has garnered the most interest in the media and recently, Benson Hill Biosystems received a patent CRISPR 3.0 Cms1 genome editing nucleases and in January 2018, [6]Synthego launched a powerful CRISPR analysis software called ‘Inference of CRISPR Edits’ to make world-class genome engineering accessible. [7]

Farm Management Software and Next Generation Farms

Overpopulation and water shortages in developing countries are causing governments to seek alternative farming methods. This is driving the farm management software and next generation farms market, which is anticipated to reach USD 4.22 billion by 2025. [8] Therefore, it’s no surprise that a number of start-ups that fall under this category have received funding from investors over the past two years. These include Freight Farms, Bowery Farming Inc., and AeroFarms.

You can find the full list of sources here.

Interested in where the future of the AgTech industry is going? Download the full list of AgTech start-ups and investors here.

Tags: agricultural technology, agtech, biologicals, investors, sustainable agriculture