DTN to acquire precision farming firm Spensa Technologies

Date:03-16-2018

DTN, an independent source of insight and analysis, and decision-support solutions to customers worldwide in agriculture, energy, commodities and financial analytics, announced recently that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Spensa Technologies, a precision agriculture technology company. Terms of the acquisition were not announced, and the sale is contingent upon Spensa shareholder approval.

Spensa's mission is to develop a network of industry-leading sensors and innovative technologies to help growers better manage agronomic pests such as insects, weeds and disease. Spensa gathers high-resolution data, models that data to reveal insights and clearly presents findings to help agriculturalists make the most informed decisions possible.

"The acquisition of Spensa will immediately bolster DTN competency in agricultural predictive modeling, business intelligence reporting, and software UX/UI with a strong mobile presence," said DTN Co-Chief Executive Officer Sheryl von Blucher. "Spensa's Agronomic Platform will enhance DTN's agribusiness offerings to digitize agronomic information for key actionable insights. Additionally, this platform currently promotes collaboration between DTN's key target markets, Producers and Agribusiness."

Spensa is a software and hardware SaaS business, with innovative solutions and advanced UX/UI software. Spensa was named one of the top 25 innovative ag-tech startups by Forbes in 2017. The company is based in West Lafayette, Ind., in the Purdue Research Park and has strong academic relationships with the university, which is a renowned hub for agriculture.

"We have admired DTN as a leader in data innovation and actionable insights for many years," said Spensa Chief Executive Officer Johnny Park. "We could not have found another company that more closely shares our vision. Together, we will be able to feed, protect and fuel the world in ways we would not have been able to by ourselves."

Jerre Stead, DTN Co-CEO, added: "Combining DTN's current Agribusiness and Producer product offerings with Spensa's platforms will deliver a better, faster solution to DTN customers. Spensa agronomic and software expertise, coupled with DTN's grain expertise and customer base, creates a great upside for DTN by expanding the DTN offering to non-core markets (e.g., fruit and tree markets in California), along with DTN's weather station, for in-season crop management."