An AI-powered crop intelligence provider that has its headquarters in Westfield has secured $40 million in funding from investors.
Taranis, which was founded in 2015, said it raised $40 million in Series D funding led by Inven Capital, a European climate tech fund, with participation from new investors Seraphim Space Investment Trust and Farglory Group, in addition to backing from 14 existing investors. The latest round brings Taranis’ total funding to $100 million, according to the company.
“We see a tremendous need for crop intelligence at scale as growers deal with soaring costs and a constant need to increase productivity and yield,” said Ofir Schlam, president and co-founder of Taranis. “Over 100 agricultural retailers and advisors are sharing our journey as innovation partners. They rely on Taranis as the critical source of insights into crop health and threats across millions of acres to drive better outcomes for their growers.”
The company’s crop intelligence platform leverages leaf-level imagery and is powered by cutting-edge machine learning trained by the industry’s largest crop dataset containing more than 200 million AI-data points, according to a news release. In the most recent growing season, Taranis delivered millions of actionable insights to ag advisors and growers, empowering decision making, simplifying crop management and improving their bottom line, according to the company, which also has offices in Tel Aviv, Israel and Campinas, Brazil.
“Responsibly increasing global food supply is a critical challenge we face today. We have been following the Agritech market for quite some time as we see the value of using Earth observation data to optimize crop yields,” said Andre Ronsoehr, investment principal at Seraphim Space Manager. “When we discovered Taranis, they immediately stood out to us, given their sub-millimeter imaging capabilities. These images unlock early detection of nutrient deficiencies and diseases which is the key to improving crop yields.”
Bar Veinstein, who serves as CEO of Taranis, said he is excited about the company’s growth trajectory.
“The new funding will allow us to accelerate our three-year plan, rapidly expand our operations, and deliver transformative technology to the market faster. We are delighted to welcome our new investors and continue to be grateful to our existing investors for their support,” he said.
