Gnawing, burrowing, infecting: The damages caused to agriculture by insect pests like the Japanese beetle (pictured above) exceed $100 billion every year, according to the Agricultural Research Service of the USDA. And along with plant diseases, which the exoskeleton buggers can also transmit, arthropods account for the annual 40% loss of agricultural production worldwide. Enter […]
Vertical farming startup Infarm raises $200M for international expansion
Europe-based vertical farming firm Infarm this week announced a $200 million Series D. The round, led by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), follows last year’s $170 million raise. It pushes the company’s total funding to north of $600 million, while placing its valuation “well” north of $1 bililion, earning its place as Europe’s first vertical […]
Climate volatility helps agtech platform Semios raise $100M round led by Morningside
One of the greatest challenges for farmers today is the increasing volatility in the climate, leading to unpredictable weather patterns, making growing conditions challenging. If farmers can’t grow crops, then our food security is as risk. Gradually, the field of agtech is attempting to address this issue. There are increasing numbers of FaaS (farming as […]
Trym adds crop steering to its cannabis seed-to-sale platform
Crop steering turns growing carrots or cannabis from an art into a science. Indoor growers have long turned to this practice to improve yields, which involves precisely controlling and manipulating three variables: light, climate and irrigation. If tweaked properly, growers can force taller plants, larger flowers and quicker grow times. Today Trym is announcing it’s […]
Colvin raises €45M Series C led by Eurazeo to disrupt the cosy flowers industry
Something very interesting is going on with supply chains, and has been for a while. But it’s clear the pandemic has accelerated the trend. Tech startups are once again cutting out the middle man, but this time at the supply chain level. The opportunity is to replace supply chains with platforms – it’s the ‘platformization […]