August 3, 2024

By Gerelyn Terzo, Global AgInvesting Media

Leaf Agriculture, an agtech behind a unified application programming interface (API) for food and agriculture, has announced the close of an $11.3 million Series A round. The fundraising, spearheaded by Spero Ventures, included participation from Leaf’s current roster of backers. As part of the investment, Leaf welcomed Spero Ventures GP Andrew Parker to its Board of Directors. According to Crunchbase, the company has raised $18.3 million since its founding in 2018.

Leaf plans to direct the proceeds of the round toward expanding its suite of product offerings and partnerships while also refining its API and pouring capex into operations to support growth for the product and the team.

The Leaf solution, which is used by farm software management companies such as CropTrak, BushelFarm and Brazil’s Aegro, is made for developers by developers. The technology supports the backend, streamlining user-permissioned data access from multiple sources and allowing developers to deliver farm data-related products without needing to establish numerous API connections or access various file types.

Farms generate massive amounts of data, originating anywhere from tractors to irrigation systems. By harnessing this data, growers can benefit not only their own farms but the broader ag industry. However, without a single classification system, it often gets lost due to complex infrastructure in which systems vary greatly, placing the burden on the agtech startups, seed and chemical companies, co-ops, insurance providers and the rest of the ag industry to interpret it.

Meanwhile, the share of growers gathering data on all available farmland has been increasing, rising from 33 percent in 2013 to nearly 75 percent a decade later, per a Leaf analysis. Last year, close to half (42 percent) of all farmers revealed that data was a major driver of their farm management decisions compared with 10 percent of them six years prior. While a stronger reliance on data collection and use has bolstered yields in the ag industry, it also has introduced a new set of challenges involving data management and reconciliation.

The pain points hit close to home for Leaf Co-Founder and CEO G. Bailey Stockdale, who wanted to build a better food system for his own family’s farm. Stockdale also set his sights on developing agronomy tools inspired by those widely used in fintech circles by high-profile payment brands like Stripe and Plaid.

Leaf’s solution is a “unified API where companies can easily access all of their data and focus on building new value with the data instead of building and maintaining messy integrations and data translation infrastructure,” according to the company.

Stockdale tweeted, “This funding puts Leaf in a strong position to accelerate growth, ship new products, and best serve our customers. We have a lot coming in the next few months, and I’m excited to share more soon.”

Newly appointed Leaf board member Parker stated, “Leaf’s mission of using technology to improve the lives of everyone involved in the farm and agriculture business resonated deeply with our mission. As lead investors, we see Leaf as a driving force in agricultural technology, enabling agricultural service providers to deliver value to farmers on a broader scale. We’re thrilled to be part of this journey and bring our B2B SaaS experience to support Leaf’s growth.”

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