June 12, 2016

Sentera LLC, manufacturer of drones and application software for the agricultural sector, has closed on an $8.5 million Series A backed by undisclosed agribusiness investors, reports The Star Tribune. The company plans to use the new capital to fund the expansion of their team and to accelerate product development.

Sentera’s main mission is to keep drone use practical for farmers. The firm makes a fixed-wing drone called the Sentera Phoenix, however, its software is flexible enough to be used with other drones, including ones sold at mass market retailers.The company announced the enhancement of its AgVaultTM 2.0 Mobile app with the addition of autonomous UAV flight planning capabilities that will work with the DJI brand drones including the Phantom 4, Phantom 3, and Inspire products, according to Drone Life.  The newly advanced app will allow farmers to select altitude, sensor configuration, overlap allowances, sideslip, and to preset the area of a field to survey. The drone will then fly a pre-determined route before returning when completed.  Completed routes can be saved and farmers can tracks changes in crop health and development across multiple growing seasons.

“The AgVault 2.0 flight planning feature is an important advancement for growers and advisors,” said Kris Poulson, vice president of agriculture for Sentera, reports Drone Life. “The software takes the guesswork out of UAV navigation, and delivers instant visibility to crop health. A grower simply launches the UAV, then AgVault Mobile ensures high-quality imagery is captured exactly where the user desires.”

“There is still specialized sensor technology and software that a farmer or agronomist needs to make money” Eric Taipale, Sentera’s chief executive told the Star Tribune. “That still takes quite a bit of skill and effort to produce, and is what differentiates us.”

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GAI News staff