April 11, 2016

Adaptive irrigation service provider CropX today announced that global leaders in the sensor manufacturing space—Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH (RBVC) and the Flex technology accelerator, Lab IX—have invested undisclosed amounts in the company. To accommodate the interest from RBVC and Flex, Series A financing for CropX, which was led by Finistere Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, GreenSoil Investments and OurCrowd, was extended from $9 million to $10 million and is now closed.

The funding will support the company’s continued growth and product development, including advances in nutrition, plant protection, planting and harvesting. Already serving 20 top farms across the United States, CropX also plans to use the strategic partnerships to accelerate product development and rapidly expand market adoption across hundreds of thousands of acres.

Jan Westerhues, Investment Partner at RBVC will join the Board as an observer. In addition, Katharine Gregorio is now advising the company based on her former work with Cargill and The Climate Corporation.

“Our vision goes far beyond row crops. We want to make adaptive irrigation a global endeavor, and you can only do that by moving the lab into the soil and the resulting data into the cloud,” noted CropX CEO Isaac Bentwich. “More efficient water usage should start on the farm, but there is no reason for it to end there. We need to make better use of our water supply across the board – from millions of acres of commercial row crops and thousands of orchards and organic farms, to golf courses and the smart homes of the future. Adaptive irrigation has the potential to save billions of gallons of water each year while driving better outcomes for farmers, business and consumers alike.”

Technology to Meet Global Need

Global drought conditions are exacerbating the current food-shortage crisis. Low commodity prices means farmers are investing less in expensive machinery and technological solutions. From drones to on-farm weather stations, farmers now have a variety of options to consider when taking the leap into the technology-driven era of farming. However, digital agriculture and precision irrigation solutions to date have can be extremely high cost. CropX claims to be changing the digital-ag game by offering a powerful, affordable irrigation solution that can drive immediate return on investment.

“CropX is bringing a powerful combination of soil sensor and cloud-based ag analytics that is affordable and easy-to-use for the farmer, and integrates with all of the leading irrigation systems out there,” noted Arama Kukutai, Chairman of CropX and Partner at Finistere Ventures. “CropX is setting the bar for adaptive irrigation and Ag IoT, so it is a huge validation when strategic investors like Flex and Robert Bosch Venture Capital invest to help us drive these technologies to wider adoption in the United States and globally.”

RBVC, the corporate venture company of the Bosch Group, is a world leading sensor manufacturer. The company invested in CropX due to unique do-it-yourself soil sensor technology, scalable IoT platform, powerful analytics and low-barrier, SaaS business model.

Second-Generation Sensors

In tandem with the investment announcement, CropX also unveiled a new version of its proven soil sensors that drastically reduces installation time. The technology now allows farmers to easily install the screw-like sensors in less than four minutes—a dramatic reduction from the 20-minute installation that broke industry records when the first generation of CropX sensors hit the market six months ago. With affordable pricing (sensors retail for $380 each with an annual subscription starting at $220/sensor) CropX offers a solution that can appeal to the mass-market.

“Moisture sensors are the most important part of the soil monitoring mix, but the options to date have been complicated, cumbersome and extremely expensive. The farming industry has been waiting for an easy and reliable way to quickly access soil moisture data,” added Below Ag Service soil consultant Damon Dowdy. “I’ve seen CropX in action, and it worked flawlessly. Farmers will readily embrace the CropX technology once they realize that it can deliver immediate ROI.”

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To see the new sensor in action, visit https://www.cropx.com/product/.

Watch the CropX story and learn how the company plans to solve the water crisis.