June 3, 2024

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

It was just in March of this year that RedSea – a company advancing commercial farming for low-to-mid-tech farmers in arid climates through its proprietary technologies that increase crop yields, reduce input costs and risk, extend growing seasons, and reduce water and energy consumption by up to 90 percent – announced it was rebranding under the name iyris.

Along with the new identity, iyris also has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Magrabi Agriculture, the leading Egyptian provider of fresh produce to more than 60 countries. This adds to its deployed business in 16 countries across five continents, from Spain to Saudi Arabia, and its high profile collaborations with the UAE’s leading agtech company Silal and plastics manufacturers such as Armando Alvarez.

Through this newest partnership, iyris’ cutting-edge technologies, including its award-winning SecondSky greenhouse covers, their data platform, and access to all upcoming iyris innovations, will be made available to Magrabi Agriculture for deployment in its Egyptian farming facilities and to leverage in support of its international operations. 

Now, iyris announced it has successfully closed on $16 million in Series A funding led by Ecosystem Integrity Fund – a San Francisco-based climate and sustainability fund investing in high-growth companies making a positive environmental impact.

The round was also joined by existing and new investors Global Ventures, Dubai Future District Fund (DFDF), Kanoo Ventures, Globivest, and Bonaventure Capital.

Launched in 2018 with a mission to reduce food insecurity, the carbon footprint, and water usage in both the Gulf and global food systems, the company began with a patented system of cutting-edge solar and growth monitoring technologies that enable the replacement of fresh water, typically used to cool greenhouses and irrigate crops, with salt water.

In December 2023, the company announced it had agreed to sell its six-hectare, controlled environment agriculture (CEA) production facility in Saudi Arabia, along with 40 hectares co-located with the facility in partnership with Alajaweed Farm, to UAE-based Pure Harvest Smart Farms (Pure Harvest).

This strategic sale of its fresh produce business, which operates under the Red Sea FarmsTM brand, was the beginning of a larger plan on the part of iyris to transition to a pure-play technology company focused on the development and commercialization of AgriClimate technology solutions – and this rebranding symbolizes the completion of that evolution.

iyris expressed how this new funding round underpins its ongoing commitment to empower farmers in their ability to sustainably mitigate the impacts of climate change, address food security, and better achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

The proceeds will be used to increase the coverage and delivery of its strong international sales pipeline for its SecondSky greenhouse covers and nets. It also will fund the ongoing development of its innovative heat-blocking products and resilient plant genetics initiatives. 

Winner of the esteemed Davidson Prize, iyris’ first technology – SecondSky greenhouse covers – minimize the stress and impact of near infrared heat radiation on plants, while allowing the spectrum of light that plants need for photosynthesis to reach crops. This achievement delivers more resilient, productive, and profitable growing seasons in regions where climate change and excessive heat have limited productive growth. The greenhouse covers are currently being sold to customers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, and North America. 

The company also has developed plant genetics via a novel hybridization process with the potential to breed resiliency to salinity, heat, and drought across a wide range of crops that is already demonstrating exciting results with some of the world’s largest tomato growers in large-scale, open-field trials. 

“EIF has been studying the impact of increasingly extreme weather on agriculture. iyris’ suite of products are tailored for growers in harsh and volatile conditions, who have been underserved historically by AgriClimate Tech innovation,” said Sasha Brown, partner, EIF. “These growers, who often operate on thin margins, have few options to better manage their farms to reduce the risk of crop loss, increase yields, and reduce water and energy consumption.”

“We have invested in iyris because we believe there are few companies that have such tremendous potential to become a critical partner for a mass market of growers, as they seek to adapt their operations to withstand and mitigate changing climate.”

Serving a global market exceeding $6 billion in recurring annual sales for greenhouse covers, iyris’ solutions deliver tangible benefits for growers and the planet, with farmers in iyris’ target markets benefitting from single-crop cycle payback periods for technology investments, and the broader ecosystem benefitting from extended growing seasons, increased yields, and a boost to local, regional, and global food supply chains. 

“We are building a great company, making it easier for farmers to grow fresh produce in increasingly difficult climates,” said John Keppler, executive chairperson, iyris. “There are few problems more challenging than feeding the world sustainably. iyris is assembling the necessary toolkit to help farmers improve crop yields with less resources.”

“In just a very short time, we have brought our products to market and proven that they work. But we have a lot left to do and completion of our Series A fundraise enables us to take the next steps in expanding sales of our drop-in solutions for heat blocking and crop resilience to our grower customers around the world.”

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and Agtech Intel News. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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