April 16, 2019

Accelerating its expansion in the EU, and demonstrating the viability of growth through acquisition within the agtech space, post-harvest IoT tech startup TeleSense, a Finistere portfolio company, has acquired Webstech, a Danish wireless sensor company with a robust EU customer base.

As consumers increasingly demand higher levels of transparency, traceability, and local ingredients in their foods, it became clear that the existing supply chain was ill-equipped through its analog systems to support upgrades or changes to meet these demands.

Additionally, every year, $12 billion in grain is lost to spoilage in the developed world alone. And as technologies to counter this become more prevalent, it is becoming obvious that data will play a key role in not only the reduction of food waste but the guarantee of food safety.

Noting these factors, and following a comprehensive review of post-harvest supply chain opportunities, Finistere led a $6.5 million Series A round for TeleSense in August of last year.

There also is a need to rapidly scale a supply chain that can meet the needs of today’s markets. As such, using scaled hardware, software, and data solutions, TeleSense’s AI platform can predict quality of commodities, and match demand cycles for both local and global supply systems.

“Spoilage is an age-old problem plaguing the food and grain industry, and we believe that the time is ripe for the confluence of new technologies to be applied to this problem,” said Spencer Maughan, co-founder and partner, Finistere Ventures. “TeleSense is the only company we’ve found that has the insight and all the necessary elements to effectively tackle this multi-billion dollar issue.”

Using innovative portable and fixed wireless sensors to collect data, TeleSense provides customers with the ability to continuously monitor humidity levels and temperature, giving customers the ability to immediately address and mitigate grain damage or spoilage, and to reduce quality loss for increased profits. Furthermore, TeleSense’s suite of enterprise solutions enrich and advance the level of insight currently available to the grain industry.

“How grain is stored, handled and traded in the years to come will change as new IoT-enabled technologies take hold throughout the supply chain,” said Peter Votkjaer Jorgensen of Maersk Growth Ventures, who will join the Board of Directors of the newly-created TeleSense Europe ApS subsidiary. “We think that this acquisition by TeleSense will accelerate the mission of higher sustainability and efficiency in the grain supply chain.”

TeleSense’s GrainSafe hardware includes proprietary sensors that collect novel data, however, the platform also is able to integrate data from outside sources, making the TeleSense platform ideally positioned to benefit through two channels: technology-driven growth, and opportunities presented through acquisition-driven growth. And through the deal for Webstech, TeleSense will now have access to the largest remote-sensed dataset in the world.

“After operating in the European remote sensing space for almost a decade, I was absolutely blown away by TeleSense’s integration of data science with an IoT solution for grain,” said Thomas Kylling, Webstech CEO and industry veteran who will join the TeleSense team as managing director for Europe. “I think that TeleSense will help drive the automation of the grain supply chain, and I’m excited to help lead the effort in Europe.”

With the acquisition of Webstech, TeleSense will add a European office in Denmark and will integrate Webstech’s industrial automation capabilities, solar and battery functionality, and alternate sensor spears into its own offerings. Furthermore, TeleSense will be able to use more than 20 million temperature and humidity observations obtained by hundreds of Webstech users, that can improve TeleSense’s machine learning algorithms, all while meeting EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standards.

“Standards in Europe are incredibly unique, and many agtech startups stumble trying to get a foothold in this complicated market,” added Finistere Venture’s Spencer Maughan, who is also on the TeleSense Board of Directors. “TeleSense will now be able to swiftly scale its footprint across Europe.”

-Lynda Kiernan