Israeli AI Platform Taranis Closes $7.5M Round

May 4, 2017

Israeli agtech AI platform Taranis announced it has closed a $7.5 million round of funding led by Finistere Ventures, and including Vertex Ventures, Eshbol Investments, Mindset Ventures, OurCrowd, and angel investor Eyal Gura. This new capital brings Taranis’ total funding to $9.5 million to date.

Taranis offers the world’s first scalable predictive analytics solution platform that provides precise information in relation to fields, crop diseases, pests, weather conditions, and daily operations through its state-of-the-art forecasting and ‘now-casting’ technologies. The ability of its deep learning platform to reduce costs, increase yields, and facilitate decision making for large commercial farmers has driven a 2000 percent growth in acreage under management for the company in one year, with Taranis now managing millions of acres across a range of climate zones in Argentina, Brazil, Israel, Russia, and the U.S.

Farmers of all sizes need better access to weather and field data, and Taranis offers an encouraging field monitoring platform, that is also affordable,” said Brent Smith, vice president of proprietary technology and innovation at Agrium. “Taranis’ platform uses all existing data sources and precise, sub-millimeter imagery to accurately predict and alert farmers to upcoming crop threats. Taranis can also scale to include more proprietary prediction models as threats evolve, so farmers can make proactive in-season decisions to affect their crops before they suffer potential adverse effects.”

Taranis’ platform also enables farmers to minimize ag chemical applications, from pesticides to herbicides and fertilizers, resulting in a quantifiable benefit to the environment, increased sustainability, and lower production costs for growers of key crops including soybeans, corn, wheat, cotton, sugarcane, and potatoes.

“Farmers are currently faced with poor commodity prices and want to manage their costs – from crop protection to fertilizer – more effectively,” said Arama Kukutai, co-founder and partner of Finistere Ventures. “We believe higher resolution, real-time data is a requirement for the digital farming revolution, but new solutions have to pay for themselves rapidly. Taranis is taking the next generation of technology for farmers well beyond simply being able to look at a field.”

Through the process of machine learning, Taranis integrates its AI platform with a range of sensors, while its aerial imagery technology is able to scan vast areas of acreage from high-speed UAVs and crop dusters with unequaled resolution of 0.5mm per pixel, or 500 times more detailed than its rivals.

“Taranis can capture imagery of a specific mite on a leaf going 70 mph from 200 feet above ground,” noted Kukutai.

The company also operates its own weather prediction model that informs farmers of field level weather patterns at 4km per pixel, compared to the current 26km per pixel offered by other precision ag companies currently operating on the market.

“Our predictive analytics platform monitors all aspects of field conditions in real time and sends early warnings to farmers to help them protect their crops,” said Ofir Schlam, CEO of Taranis. “We want to make it easier for farmers anywhere, in any climate, to predict and overcome potential crop threats.”

Taranis plans to use the investment to advance its scalable pest and disease prediction platform, and extend its global reach with an eye toward the U.S. market, where agricultural production accounts for $136.7 billion of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).  In support of this strategic growth plan, Kukutai of Finistere Ventures, and Yanai Oron of Vertex Ventures, will join the Taranis Board.

“We invest in innovators with the ability to transform an industry and were drawn to Taranis’ exceptional leadership team, machine learning expertise, proven analytics platform and early on-farm successes,” said Yanai Oron, general partner, Vertex. “Taranis offers a comprehensive and affordable crop management solution, and the pest and disease prediction algorithms it developed set the company apart from its competitors.”

-Lynda Kiernan

Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to GAI News. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.

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