Haarlem/Amsterdam, March 8, 2023 – Agurotech receives an investment boost of € 1.5 million from Navus Ventures and ROM InWest. This will enable the Amsterdam high-tech company, an expert in data-driven irrigation management, to take the next step towards making the global food system future-proof.
Navus Ventures leads the investment that contributeseight to further digitalization of agriculture and more efficient use of raw materials in the agricultural sector. The investment from ROM InWest originates from the Dutch government's Transition Fund, intended to support companies that accelerate the major, necessary transitions of our time with their service or product.
Data via soil moisture sensors and weather stations
The business model of Agurotech is focused on developing, producing and delivering hardware (soil moisture sensors and weather stations) and software (app) to farmers in horticulture, arable farming and open dairy farming. The soil moisture sensors and weather stations collect data that the application developed by Agurotech interprets and combines with agricultural models. The intuitive software offers agricultural and dairy farmers practical insight into soil moisture, linked to the weather situation and forecast. This allows them to use fertilizer and water in a more targeted, and therefore more efficient and sustainable way, and to optimize their primary process.
Pipeline filled with orders
Agurotech was founded in 2020 and is led by Joëlle van den Brand and Lilia Planjyan. They have specific knowledge of cultivation, crops and the agricultural market. For Agurotech, 2022 was all about pilots with farmers and testing and improving the software. This laid the foundation for a concrete market demand with a sales pipeline of approximately 180 sensors and twenty weather stations. In addition to the production of a batch of a thousand sensors, Agurotech will also carry out the LIFE project in 2023, in which 500 soil sensors will be placed with 150 farmers in six EU countries. It is the largest sensor-driven agricultural project ever.
Next step in sustainable agriculture
Janet Nieboer, ROM InWest: “A sustainable food system is one of the most important challenges of our time. We are therefore pleased to be able to contribute to this effective approach with global potential. Thanks to the smart use of data in combination with advanced hardware, an important boost is provided to improving agriculture, the environment and living environment. Agurotech can become an important employer for the North Holland economy.”
“We are proud of this investment round,” says co-founder Joëlle van den Brand of Agurotech. “With our system, we have the potential to effectively make agriculture more sustainable. Not only in the Netherlands or Europe, but all over the world. Thanks to these investments, we can significantly scale up and expand our company. We expect to grow in the coming five years and achieve international market leadership in important segments.”
