building a solution for Midwestern farmers,” Vollmar points out. “Plus, we wanted to support the Michigan economy.”
So the pair decided to headquarter FarmLogs in Ann Arbor and raised a $1 million seed round to go with Y Combinator’s initial investment. This has enabled the FarmLogs team to grow to five full-time employees with more being hired “immediately.” Vollmar says the FarmLogs mobile software for Android and iOS has been completely overhauled for the spring planting season and will be available very soon.
FarmLogs offers its tools on a Software as a Service subscription basis. He says response has been great, and he’s not particularly worried about the aging population of farm owners, who aren’t usually considered a very tech-savvy bunch. “Farming is such a capital-intensive operation,” Vollmar says. “It takes a long time to build up. The older generation is probably the one that owns the land, but then he helps his sons take it on. It’s probably a son or cousin managing the day-to-day operation of the farm. The younger generation is definitely involved.”
In fact, Vollmar notes, it’s this younger generation that is passionately advocating for better ag tech and pushing the older members not to settle for anything less than easy-to-use software that can be accessed from a tractor, if need be. “When people find us, they’re delighted someone is finally tackling this,” he adds. “They’re relieved to find something easy with a good interface.”
