Startup Cromai receives investment from Baraúna Venture Capital and the Del Papa family to expand business in the sugar-energy market and to venture into grains and fibers

The artificial intelligence Agtech company, Cromai, whose flagship product is a system that detects invasive plants in cropland, completed a new round of investment to expand its share in the sugar-energy market and to start operations with grains and fibers. The investment was made by Baraúna Venture Capital and Henrique and Luiza Del Papa, from the Agropecuária Sucuri farming company, farmers in the Morro Agudo (SP) region. The amount invested was not disclosed.

According to Guilherme Castro, Cromai’s CEO, the Agtech company showed a fourfold growth in 2022 and is already working with more than half of the thirty largest sugarcane producers. The goal now is to be present in 33% of the more than 400 sugarcane mills in the country by the end of 2024. ″In two years, we expect to increase our revenues eightfold and, in addition to expanding into sugarcane, we aim to reach 1,000 soybean producers in Brazil″, he said.

With the funds raised, Cromai also plans to further improve its product portfolio and expand its workforce.

This is the second major investment received by the startup, this one being about three times more than the previous one which was captured 18 months ago. In 2021, Stoller (recently acquired by Corteva) made an investment of BRL 5 million which enabled the company’s expansion and it currently monitors 300,000 hectares of sugarcane crops.

Investor Henrique Del Papa said that he has been following the technology market in agribusiness for some time. ″Technology has always been present in our core business, which is the production and supply of soybean and sugarcane. When Cromai's project was presented to me at a field day event, I saw Agtech’s great potential for growth, not only by solving farmer’s real pain points, but also as an impact delivery company (ESG). At the field day event, its efficiency became very clear, and I was in no doubt that it should be selected for this investment.″

Mr. Del Papa also added that the proposal of working with artificial intelligence in agribusiness is a disruptive innovation, in addition to generating value for their main market sectors - sugar-energy, grains and fibers. ″The global market's main concerns are sustainable and efficient production, problems that technology can solve at the root,″ he explained. The investor’s synergy with the Agtech company was such that he was invited to become the company’s business development director.

According to Baraúna Venture Capital, it’s expected that Cromai will consolidate and become one of the main tech companies in agriculture making it a benchmark in management recommendations and information. ″Cromai has a very high-level tech team focused on artificial intelligence which can deliver solutions with real savings for farmers. From this, we can see they will be able to create new solutions that will bring greater efficiency to the management of agriculture 4.0,″ explained investor Paulo Ciampolini.

The transaction relied on financial advice from LKC Capital and legal assistance from law firm Silveiro Advogados.

About Cromai

The technology developed by Cromai is capable of detecting and classifying patterns in images collected by drones in the field, offering diagnoses that provide a better basis for decision-making by agribusiness companies. This information makes it possible to spray pesticides in a precise and localized way, only where necessary, providing an average reduction of 65% in herbicide usage. Cromai's diagnostics and intelligence also provides for increased yields and crop sustainability through more effective control of invasive plants, reduction of tractor field time and the consequent reduction of fuel consumption and carbon gas emissions.

Founded in 2017, Cromai is a pioneer in the application of computer vision for weed detection. The company was one of the finalists in the Santander X Environmental Challenge, a global call for startups with innovative solutions aimed at building a more sustainable future, in addition to being one of the winners of the Nvidia Inception and Google Computer Vision global programs that select stand-out startups working with artificial intelligence, among other programs such as ScaleUp Endeavor.