AgroPages-Agtech startup Growers raises $5M, creates second headquarters in Seattle-Agricultural news

The Raleigh, N.C.-based farm data analytics startup Growers announced a $5 million Series A investment round and the creation of a second headquarters in Seattle.

St. Louis-based firm Lewis and Clark Ventures led the round, which included participation from Innova Memphis, Middleland Capital, Tiverton Advisors, Albany Private Equity Partners, and Maize Partners.

Founded eight years ago by Steven Valencsin, Growers has developed software that helps farmers capture field data and analyze soil quality at scale. The idea is to provide data-driven seeding recommendations that enable yield improvements and grow crops more efficiently. The company’s customers range from farmers with 25,000-acre lots to those that run smaller operations.

“Farmers are inundated with data, but the use of that data to ‘do more with less’ by growing crops more efficiently is fleeting,” said Growers CTO Ron Zink. “Growers helps to enable the modern farm through an end-to-end platform that connects data to real value for our customers.”

Growers is one of several startups aiming to use technology to aid farmers. Investors planted more than $1.5 billion in agriculture tech startups last year, up from just $200 million a decade earlier, according to PitchBook and Finistere Ventures.

Zink, who previously was director of digital solutions at John Deere, is heading up the company’s new Seattle office. Growers has 30 employees, with six people in Seattle, and plans to expand its team as a result of the new funding.