Agriculture Tech Market Map: 77 startups powering the future of farming and agribusiness

Date:08-19-2016

Corporate investors such as Mitsui, Monsanto, and Syngenta have backed startups improving irrigation, crop spraying, harvesting, and more.

CB Insights use their data to identify 77 private companies in agriculture tech and categorized them into seven main categories.

These startups address a variety of key problems facing the agriculture industry and provide provide a range of services, new technologies, insights, new ways of farming, and more.

CB Insights define agriculture tech as technology increasing the efficiency of farms, in the form of software, sensors, aerial-based data, internet-based distribution channels (marketplaces), and tools for technology-enabled farming that doesn’t require the traditional setting and inputs.


The breakdown is as follows:

• Farm Management Software: This includes software like that produced by Andreessen Horowitz-backed Granular that allows farmers to more efficiently manage their resources, crop production, farm animals, etc.

• Precision Agriculture and Predictive Data Analytics: These startups include those that focus on using big data and predictive analytics to answer farm-related questions and consequently make better decisions related to their farm to save energy, increase efficiency, optimize herbicide and pesticide application (such as Brazil-based Strider) and manage risk.

• Sensors: Startups in the sensor category including Agrilyst develop and provide smart sensors that collect data and help farmers monitor crop health, animal health, weather, soil quality, waste, water usage, and other factors to help make smarter decisions.

• Drones and Robots: This category includes companies that provide drones or aerial services catering to agriculture (such as Ceres Imaging), as well as robots or intelligent farm machines that perform various farm functions more efficiently (such as Blue River Technology, backed by Monsanto Growth Ventures, Syngenta Ventures, and Khosla Ventures, among others).

• Smart Irrigation: These startups (including Hortau) provide systems that help monitor and automate water usage for farms.

• New Farms: This is a small but growing category which includes startups (like indoor farming startup Aero Farms) that use technology to provide alternative farming methods to enable farming in locations and settings that cannot support traditional farming

• Marketplaces: These startups help create and regulate marketplaces relevant to this industry, such as those connecting farmers and buyers of fresh local produce (like Paris-based La Ruche Qui Dit Oui) and linking farmers with suppliers of farm equipment.

See the full company list below: