September 8, 2021

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Fieldin has come a long way since it raised $4 million in 2018. The startup is now serving five of the 10 largest farms in California, and facilitating more than 20 percent of the world’s total almond production.

In support of continuing this growth, Fortissimo Capital has led a $30 million Series B for the company with participation from Zeev Ventures, ICON Accelerator, Akkadian Ventures, and Luxembourg-based Maor Investments, bringing total funding to-date for the company to $55 million. 

Founded in 2013 in Ramat-Yishai, Israel, by Boaz Bachar (company CEO) and Iftach Birger (company COO), Fieldin’s platform (AgOS) evaluates and manages the entire agricultural production cycle, from planning to execution with data from equipment, workers, materials, and more. This is accomplished by installing sensors farm-wide – on tractors, machinery, sprayers, harvesters, mowers, etc., – turning all machinery into “smart” equipment.

“We are starting to see the development of autonomous farm equipment— it’s an exciting milestone for the industry. Our AgOS easily interfaces with digital equipment and can both manage and disseminate the data produced by the coming wave of autonomous farm technologies,” said Boaz Bachar, co-founder and CEO, Fieldin.

Data gathered from workers and from the field is transmitted in real time to Fieldin for analysis, with aggregated data and dashboards providing visibility and insights. This range of field data from tractors, machinery, and in-field sensors is easily accessed through a single user-friendly dashboard, where managers and decision makers can gain actionable insight that improves planning, mitigates risks, strengthens accountability, precision, practices, and maximizes production across all activities for better results.

This digitization of an industry that has been historically hesitant to embrace technology enables commercial farmers to better adapt to the changing environment by leveraging machine learning, AI, real-time data, and performance management tools to lift the management of key processes, improve crop health and yields, raise sustainability, and boost overall efficiency and profits. 

“Fieldin is reinventing agricultural management methods and digitizing operations from beginning to end,” said Bachar. “Our technology provides the entire ecosystem of farm stakeholders with customized tools to manage against operating constraints in real time. This is a game-changer for commercial farmers who want to thrive amid the complexities of the coming agricultural era.”

From its beginnings in Israel, Fieldin has seen rapid expansion, launching operations in San Jose, and Fresno, California, an R&D center in Yoqneam, Israel, and an office in Mildura, Australia.

Its technology is now deployed on five of the 10 largest farms in California, and supports more than 20 percent of the world’s almond production- including almond orchards owned by multinational Olam – one of the leading almond growers in the world.

Like Olam, which leverages Fieldin’s platform to strengthen its sustainability programs and to maximize production, other clients include Taylor Farms, which grows 30 percent of the lettuce consumed in the U.S., and California Olive Ranch, which raised $35 million in 2017 and planned to double its acreage, which then stood at 14,000 acres producing 65 percent of all olive oil products in the U.S. 

“Today’s growers are challenged by many factors, like chronic labor shortages, strict regulations, pests, unpredictable weather, water shortages, oil prices, and more,” said Iftach Birger, co-founder and COO, Fieldin. “Fieldin is driving the strategic utilization of agricultural resources against these constraints, not only optimizing operations and reducing costs, but also making a positive global contribution through better food, higher yields, and environmental impact management.”

“The unprecedented challenges faced by commercial farming can be tackled not only by regulation but also through innovative companies that can move quickly to scale superior technologies,” added Yoav Hineman, partner, Fortissimo Capital. “Fieldin is exactly that kind of company, and we chose to invest in order to help it spearhead the autonomous farming revolution.”

– Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.