Crop monitoring and technology company, PlanetWatchers, has raised $11 million as part of its Series A funding round, as part of the company’s expansion plans.
The company uses advanced machine learning to support crop insurers and the agricultural industry in verifying cover crops, tillage, planting dates, acreage, crop classification and weather damage at scale.
PlanetWatchers also uses Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data to provide accurate insight at scale, which therefore helps to reduce overheads and increase customer satisfaction.
The funding raised will allow the company to invest in its SAR-based data analytics alongside expanding its commercial teams to address the increasing market demand to help solve global food security issues.
The use of SAR, a powerful remote sensing technology bouncing microwave signals off the Earth’s surface, helps PlanetWatchers to detect physical properties and the changes to them over time, proving valuable insight to its customers.
Moreover, Seraphim Investment Trust PLC and Creative Ventures co-led the funding round. The Trendlines Agrifood Fund, BIG Capital and Ridgeline Partners also invested in the $11million funding round too.
“I’m delighted that PlanetWatchers can now take the next steps on our ambitious journey to tell the story of every field. We are thrilled to have the support of both Serpahim and Creative as co-leads and the other investors in the round. We look forward to expanding our market-leading technology and our commercial footprint together,” said Dominic Edmunds, Chief Executive for PlanetWatchers.
Andre Ronsoehr, Principal at Seraphim Space, commented: “PlanetWatchers have achieved an awful lot over the past year, and I am proud of the entire team at the company. They have established themselves as a great partner to major companies that are vital in ensuring today’s global food supply chains, namely crop insurers and agricultural companies. The team’s capabilities in analysing synthetic aperture radar (“SAR”) data and giving customers actionable insights are second to none, and we are very happy to back them in fulfilling their full potential.”
Champ Suthipongchai, General Partner at Creative Ventures, added: “Rarely do I see a company so well managed and executed as PlanetWatchers, thanks to its CEO, Dominic, and its executive team. The company continues to grow by leap and bounds since our initial investment and is clearly a category leader within the crop insurance industry. I have utmost confidence in its potential to upend multiple other industries through its satellite aperture radar (“SAR”) technology.”
