Israeli precision agriculture intelligence platform developer Taranis today announced the closing of a $20 million Series B financing round led by Viola Ventures, with participation from existing investors Finistere Ventures, Vertex Ventures, OurCrowd, Eyal Gura and Gal Yarden. The round is also joined by strategic investors - Nutrien, Cavallo Ventures, the venture capital arm of Wilbur-Ellis, and Sumitomo Corporation Europe.
The Tel Aviv-based company, whicvh was founded in 2015 by CEO Ofir Schlam, Asaf Horvitz, Eli Bukchin and Ayal Karmi, has raised $30 million to date.
Taranis uses deep-learning technology and agronomic understanding to offer insights that create a more sustainable farming ecosystem. These insights are made possible by the power of Taranis' patented aerial imagery technology, that when placed on high-speed UAVs and manned aircrafts provide more than 500x more detail than existing monitoring platforms.
Taranis has also built an extensive database that implements deep-learning technology to identify crop stresses such as weeds, insects, and diseases on a granular level - providing magnification of up to 0.5mm. Taranis then turns the collected data into actionable insights, helping farmers monitor their acreage effectively by improving crop yields and cutting costs.
Schlam said, "We are excited to advance our mission of providing farmers with the technology and know-how to effectively maximize crop yields while maintaining operational efficiency. We have already helped thousands of farmers monitor crops for potential hazards. Now we're looking forward to expanding our footprint around the globe."
"After analyzing the digital farming industry, we proudly chose Taranis to be our first investment in this space," said Zvika Orron, partner at Viola Ventures. "Taranis has all the necessary ingredients to become the leader in farm digitalization: a comprehensive precision agriculture solution, leading industry partners to scale and penetrate the market and a passionate team making it all happen. Taranis' solution provides both the diagnosis of the problem as well as the cure."
Earlier this year Taranis completed its second acquisition, procuring Mavrx, to create an unprecedented aerial imagery platform. With this new round of funding Taranis will continue to enhance its AI-powered solution and high-resolution imagery tools to accelerate its growth in Argentina, Brazil, Russia, the US and expansion into Australia.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 6, 2018
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