AGRIGULTURE-focussed tech start-up, Aerobotics has expanded its Series A funding round from $2 million (R29 million). The funding round expansion came through a signed deal with Paper Plane Ventures and brings Aerobotics total funding to $4.6 million.
The Cape Town company, co-founded by James Paterson (CEO) and Benji Meltzer (CTO) in 2014, provides farmers around the world with pest and disease management systems for tree crop protection using artificial intelligence and drone and satellite data.
It also launched what it calls “the first natural step to automated, accurate yield estimation” with a new tool for farm yield management. Currently in development, the yield management tool that is being built within the Aeroview app allows farmers to select a yield sample within their orchard, capture fruit counts and fruit size and get a report on the size distribution and number of fruits.
This yield management tool helps farmers make informed decisions on how much fruit to thin during the early stages of the season to optimise their yield when it is time to harvest. This technology will be commercially available in the United States at the beginning of the 2019 growing season.
“Farmers traditionally have faced challenges recording the data they capture in the field when scouting and analysing yield samples,” said Aerobotics Head of Product Nasreen Patel. “We believe this new field management technology that is being built right into Aeroview will empower farmers to collect more accurate data in-field and make more informed decisions on thinning their fruit and, ultimately, optimising their yield.”
Aerobotics also has a new Head of Business Enablement in the form of Lindsay Griffin, a Chartered Accountant, joins the company from Coast2Coast Capital where she was an investment associate focused on capital raising and investments in the healthcare and consumer products sectors in South Africa, Europe and Australia.
At Aerobotics, Griffin will be focused on streamlining the corporate finance structure and enabling the business to scale efficiently at its current rapid pace. Additionally, she will manage people and places within the business and compliment Aerobotics’ legal and financial operations.
“I am excited about joining Aerobotics and playing a key role in ensuring that the company’s growth continues,” said Griffin. “While Aerobotics has achieved a lot of success over the last few years, I think people should expect even bigger things to come in the near and long term.”