January 26, 2022

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Last year, a pretty significant deal in the agtech space happened that might have flown under the radar. Decisive Farming – a collaborative data-driven farm management platform which was founded and led by entrepreneur and angel investor Remi Schmaltz – was acquired by TELLUS , a transaction that was named the Most Signficant Tech Transaction of the Year for 2020. 

Remi Schmaltz has a long, successful history of building and scaling agricultural companies such as Decisive Farming, but today, he is bringing his experience to the role of general partner and founder of the Koan AgTech Fund – a new investment vehicle being launched by Canada’s Koan Capital (Koan) to back and help commercialize early stage agtech companies with missions to improve food production and the environment.

McKinsey noted in its report Agriculture’s Connected Future: How Technology Can Yield New Growth,  “…if connectivity is implemented successfully in agriculture, the industry could tack on $500 billion in additional value to the global gross domestic product by 2030.” Koan noted that the bulk of this value creation will be generated through advancements in robotics, autonomous systems, IOT, traceability technologies, novel farming systems, biotech, and remote sensing and monitoring being applied to crop, livestock, and aquaculture production. 

Koan’s approach to achieving this is to invest in companies with teams that are developing solutions through thought processes and technologies from a different paradigm than where the problem stems. The result being increased agricultural productivity, an improved environment, and greater overall value of food products.

As one of the oldest and most diverse industries in the world, the potential to create opportunities in the agricultural space are massive as it strives to adapt to meet evolving environmental, social, and governance demands.

Koan noted how satellite and 5G networks have the power to unlock so-far unseen connectivity and imaging, while sensors and digital technologies using AI and machine learning, for example, can generate transformational insights able to create autonomous and enhanced human systems.

The combination of technologies such as these will fundamentally change not only the production of agricultural products, but how they are consumed, too.

This new fund will enable the rich experience of operators and founders of proven agtech startups to be combined with financial acumen to drive investments, which will include a major focus on go-to-market, corporate governance, raising capital, team building, and exit.

“There are some amazing agtech start-ups in Canada with the best technology but one of the main challenges in agriculture is building out and executing on a robust go-to-market plan,” said Schmaltz.

Already working in this direction, the fund has made its first four investments that together reflect the range of opportunities in the market:

~Index Biosystems – The creator of on-product barcodes, or biotags made from a patent-pending, bioengineered inactive yeast able to trace agricultural goods, even without packaging. 

~ Nectar – A low-cost beehive health management and tracking solution platform. 

~ Sawback – A real-time near-surface soil mapping and data collection and analysis solution. 

~Techbrew Robotics – A vision-guided robotics and automation provider. 

Schmaltz noted that even though the majority of the fund’s capital is committed by the original Limited Partners, there is still room for a few additional investors to join at the start of any quarter during the life of the fund.

“The level of interest and commitments to the fund have been overwhelming,” said Schmaltz, “…it really showcases the importance that agriculture and the environment has recently gained in our society.”

– Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com. 

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