The AgTech company SupPlant, has recently been chosen as one of TIME’s Best Inventions, is excited to announce its recent funding round, raising $27M to accelerate its intention to digitally inform every irrigation recommendation on earth. The round is led by Red Dot Capital Partners with participation from Menomadin Foundation, Smart-Agro Fund, Mivtah Shamir, Deshpande Foundation, PBFS and Maor Investments. The round brings SupPlants’s total funding to more than $46M. As part of this round, Atad Peled of Red Dot will join SupPlant’s Board of Directors.
The round comes amidst global warming impacting South African farmers who are dealing daily with the unpredicted climate that is changing rapidly and the constant lack of irrigation water. SupPlant is generating climate smart irrigation recommendations to help farmers in South Africa and around the world be more resilient to volatile weather events.
SupPlant is making their technology available to South African farmers by changing the basic concept of irrigation methods. SupPlant’s database is the largest plant database in the world, accumulated by data collected from 32 crops in 14 countries, covering growing conditions from dry arid regions of the Middle East to tropical conditions in central America. The sensors are placed on the plants and their surroundings which radiate the plant’s data to the cloud: how much water the plant actually needs to maximize growth. This data is translated through the use of artificial intelligence and big data to irrigation models, recommendations and actionable insights. SupPlant is represented and distributed in South Africa by AECI Plant Health.
SupPlant, an Israeli-based company, has taken advantage of the Abraham Accords and geopolitical changes in the region to open two new markets in the last year: UAE and Morocco.
“The funds raised in this round will allow us to invest in the South African market and open other markets as well” said Ori Ben Ner, CEO of SupPlant “We also plan to continue to develop our product in order to help farmers in South Africa fight climate change. It is far superior from any common practice available and is built for the vast majority of farmers on earth – smallholders that can’t afford access to hardware intense technology and unique knowledge.”
“We were impressed by SupPlant’s abilities and recent expansion into strategic markets” says Atad Peled, Principal at Red Dot. “We were also inspired by their goal: working with smallholder farms, who usually do not have access to AgTech. Food security will be a major issue in coming years, and we feel certain SupPlant’s solution will have a stand-out role in it”.
