June 9, 2017

VC firm Gobi Partners has led a $7 million funding round for Chinese agricultural drone sharing startup Nongtian Guanjia. Other investors participating in the round include GGV Capital, Shunwei Capital, the Zhen Fund, and Yunqi Partners.

Tapping into a business model that aligns with the trending, “sharing economy” Nongtian Guanjia, which means ‘manager of farmland’ or ‘farm friend’, hosts a platform that connects agricultural drone operators with farmers looking for the service without having to invest in the technology themselves.

Companies tapping into a sharing economy are leveraging not only consumers’ disillusionment with owning things to show status, but what unites them is their ability to use data to establish platforms that provide services to consumers on an on-demand basis while also achieving scale, explains Forbes. Companies such as Uber and Airbnb are examples of very successful companies within this model, that have been launched as a facilitator – a company that makes it easier for the consumer to secure a particular service while reducing operational risk and costs to the provider.

Launched last year, Nongtian Guanjia operates in more than 10 provinces across China, including the country’s main agricultural production regions of Heilongjiang, Hubei, Hunan, Shandong and Jiangsu. The company currently has more than 1,000 drone operators with over 5,000 drones available registered to its platform which has completed orders covering more than 666 million square meters of farmland. By the end of this year, the company expects to have completed orders covering 5.3 billion square meters.

“The Chinese agricultural industry is backward in technology usage and faces the challenge of a shortage of labor, while pesticide misuse is a serious food safety issue,” said Jiang Tao, a managing partner at Gobi. “Nongtian Guanjia provides services that can help solve the labor shortage issue, increase efficiency and improve food quality.”

Last year Nongtian successfully raised $1 million through an angel round of fundraising from Shunwei Capital. Shunwei returned for a follow-up round that raised $3 million more for the company and included GGV, the Zhen Fund.

Nongtian Guanjia plans to use the funds from this round to boost its research team and expand its service into new geographies. By doing so, Nongtian will be positioning itself to gain market share in a sector with the support of the Chinese government and the potential for substantial growth.  

The Chinese market for agricultural unmanned aerial services is expected to grow to a value of 30 billion yuan (US$4.4 billion) per year as the government continues its push for the integration of agtech solutions to raise modernization and standardization levels in its ag sector.

-Lynda Kiernan

Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to GAI News. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration, please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.