Guardian Agriculture, a US-based crop protection technology developer, raised $10.5m in a series A round yesterday backed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-affiliated E14 Fund.
Chemical and pharmaceutical producer Bayer led the round through corporate venture capital vehicle Leaps by Bayer, while Cavallo Ventures and FMC Ventures, respective vehicles for agribusiness Wilbur-Ellis and chemical provider FMC Corporation, also took part.
Fall Line Capital, Pillar VC and Neoteny filled out the investor line-up.
Guardian Agriculture has developed electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft that analyse data from the air to inform users about crop protection. It will use the cash to increase manufacturing activities and fulfil pre-orders.
The startup said it has now secured $15.5m altogether without describing details of its earlier funding.
Habib Haddad, a managing partner at E14 Fund, told Forbes: “The market that Guardian Ag is going after is humongous and the need for increasing food production is increasing.
“The other interesting thing about Guardian Ag is you are not convincing farmers to adopt something that is completely disruptive to their operations.
“It is something that they do anyway with planes.” With crop-dusting drones, he added, “it is just happening in a much more efficient way with data.”
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.
 

Chemical and pharmaceutical producer Bayer led a $10.5m series A round for US-based crop protection technology developer Guardian Agriculture yesterday through corporate venture capital vehicle Leaps by Bayer.

Agribusiness Wilbur-Ellis and chemical provider FMC Corporation also took part in the round, through Cavallo Ventures and FMC Ventures respectively, while the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-affiliated E14 Fund, Fall Line Capital, Pillar VC and Neoteny also invested.

Guardian Agriculture has developed electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft that analyse data from the air to inform users about crop protection. The startup said it has now secured $15.5m altogether without describing details of its earlier funding.

Cavallo Ventures CEO Mike Wilbur said: “This is the first new aerial technology to make a material impact on American farms. We believe it can be profitably, and rapidly, deployed and are looking forward to working with Guardian Agriculture to roll out their technology to our customers and partners.”