July 25, 2018

Aerobotics, a South African aerial data and analytics startup, has raised a $2 million Series A that included commitments from AgFunder, South African bank, Nedbank Group, South African investment firm, 4Di Capital, and U.S.-based AngelList.

Founded by James Paterson and Benji Meltzer in Cape Town in 2014, Aerobotics provides farmers with early pest and disease detection, targeted scouting, tree monitoring including tree counts, individual tree size, and canopy area, and management zone services that can plan irrigation probe placement, soil and leaf samples, and apply variable-rate fertilizers with smart tractors.

Aerobotics has also developed Aeroview, a data analytics platform and in-field scouting app which employs data collected via satellites, drones, and artificial intelligence, enabling farmers to make more informed decisions that would reduce production costs and increase yields.

“From preventing the spread of pests and disease, to ensuring optimum irrigation and nutrition levels, the early detection of these problems can mean the difference between producing a profitable harvest, or not,” said James Paterson, CEO, Aerobotics. “We use aerial imagery and machine learning algorithms to do just this – provide insightful data on the performance of tree crops so that Farmers can take the necessary steps to rectify any issues before they actually become a problem.”

The company has been preparing for this round over recent months, and as part of those preparations, Aerobotics announced in February of this year that Timothy Willis had joined the company in the role of chief financial officer.

Formerly an executive with Uber and Deloitte, Willis recently was manager of Analytics & Strategy for the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) Central Operations Team for Uber, out of the company’s Amsterdam, Netherlands office, after serving as lead of operations for the sub-Saharan Africa Uber team.

In his role with Aerobotics, Willis will focus on expanding the company’s customer base, and will manage the company’s global expansion, which is to step-off with a U.S. launch in Florida in August of this year.

“Tim brings a wealth of experience in scaling digital products globally. We believe he can help Aerobotics execute our exciting new growth strategy,” said Paterson.

In August of last year, the company successfully raised a Seed Round totaling US$602,000 from South African venture capital firm 4Di and Kenya’s Savannah Fund. And at the time, Paterson hinted at the strategic growth plan for the company saying, “We couldn’t have asked for better partners than 4Di and Savannah who between them have a wealth of entrepreneurial experience, and we look forward to building our existing operations in Africa, as well as expanding further into the global precision farming space.”

-Lynda Kiernan