Greeneye Technology, the pioneer of AI-enabled precision spraying technology for agricultural applications, announced Thursday the completion of a $22 million (USD) funding round led by Jerusalem Venture Partners. The round also includes participation from Syngenta Group Ventures, the world’s largest manufacturer of crop protection chemicals, Hyperplane Venture Capital, and One Way Ventures. They are joined by leading agricultural machinery manufacturers, AGCO, and KDT.
Each year, farmers worldwide apply millions of gallons of herbicides – the vast majority of which are wastefully sprayed onto bare soil or the crop. This overuse of chemicals, which is common practice in the industry, damages the environment, causes weeds to develop resistance to herbicides, and is a financial burden for farmers.
Greeneye has developed proprietary AI-enabled precision spraying technology that enables farmers to seamlessly transition from this hugely inefficient practice to precise application of herbicides and other chemicals. This is proven to reduce herbicide volumes by up to 90% while also improving weed control efficacy compared to standard broadcast spraying.
The investment will be used to support Greeneye’s commercial launch in the U.S. in 2022 and its expansion across North America in 2023. It will also be used to advance the technology’s analytical capabilities and extend its usage to new inputs and crops, increasing the financial and environmental benefits of precision spraying to farmers beyond herbicides. Ahead of these milestones, Greeneye will double the size of its R&D team in Israel and its sales and operations team in the U.S.
"We are delighted to have concluded this round of funding with such a diverse group of highly experienced financial and strategic investors alongside two of the leading companies in the global agriculture industry," said Nadav Bocher, CEO, Greeneye Technology.
"This funding round marks a major milestone in our mission to dramatically reduce chemical usage in agriculture and increase profitability and productivity for farmers, while also providing consumers with safer and healthier food. Precision spraying has a crucial role to play in our essential transition to a sustainable food production system, and this investment signals the industry’s absolute confidence that Greeneye is the company to lead the charge.”
Greeneye is the first company to launch an AI-based precision spraying system in the U.S., where it has already secured dozens of contracts with farmers in the Midwest.
It is expected to accelerate mainstream adoption of precision spraying by solving previous barriers, including accuracy and cost. This is achieved by utilizing AI and deep learning to detect and spray weeds amongst crops (green on green) with 95.7% accuracy. Further, the system is designed to integrate seamlessly into any brand or size of the commercial sprayer, eliminating the need for farmers to invest in costly new machines.
Erel Maragalit, Founder & Chairman, JVP, noted: "Greeneye’s smart spraying solution promises to transform weed control by reducing the use of pesticides by up to 90%. This will have a dramatic impact on human health, the environment, and on farmers’ profitability, especially as farm input costs continue to skyrocket. Our continued investment in Greeneye is part of our wider vision to invest in companies that provide ground-breaking solutions to the world’s most critical challenges."
Greeneye is the first company to launch an AI-based precision spraying system in the U.S., where it has already secured dozens of contracts with farmers in the Midwest.
It is expected to accelerate mainstream adoption of precision spraying by solving previous barriers, including accuracy and cost. This is achieved by utilizing AI and deep learning to detect and spray weeds amongst crops (green on green) with 95.7% accuracy. Further, the system is designed to integrate seamlessly into any brand or size of commercial sprayer, eliminating the need for farmers to invest in costly new machines.
“Precision spraying is a key tool for farmers as they look to solve the challenges of the evolving agricultural ecosystem, which include herbicide resistance, financial pressures and sustainability,” said Shubhang Shankar, Managing Director, Syngenta Group Ventures. “Our investment and relationship with Greeneye Technology underline Syngenta’s commitment to support farmers in meeting these challenges by investing in companies that have the vision and determination to bring to market cost-effective, scalable solutions that positively impact not just farmers, but also the broader agricultural ecosystem in which we are all stakeholders.
Eric Hansotia, Chairman, President, and CEO, AGCO, concluded: ”Greeneye’s precision spraying technology targets real needs voiced by farmers around the world and is expected to enable a more sustainable future for the production of food. While there are a number of emerging technologies around precision spraying, Greeneye has differentiated itself in multiple ways, including the approach to install its precision spraying system on farmers’ existing sprayers. This aligns perfectly with our retrofit first approach, and is just one of the reasons why we are excited to join Greeneye’s team of investors.”
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