The Ann Arbor, MI-based ag tech startup FarmLogs announced today that it has raised a $4 million Series A round of funding. The round was led by Ohio-based Drive Capital, with participation from Huron River Ventures, also of Ann Arbor, and Hyde Park Venture Partners and Hyde Park Angels, both based in Chicago.
The announcement caps a year of significant growth for the startup, which is also a 2012 Y Combinator alum. Co-founder Jesse Vollmar was also recently named to Forbes’ annual “30 Under 30” list. The list “is essentially just recognition by Forbes that what we’re doing is impactful on the world,” Vollmar says. “Of course, when you get that mainstream recognition, you get more attention for your company.”
What Vollmar has created is management software for farmers that allows them to manage risk while tracking the progress of their crops. It also helps farmers stay on top of expenses, profits, weather, and prices.
Vollmar says that in the past year, the team has grown to nine people, with customers in all 50 states and more than 120 countries. He’s looking forward to rolling out the new version of the FarmLogs software in March to coincide with the 2014 growing season. The company estimates that 5 percent of all row-crop farms use FarmLogs.
“We learned a ton from our customers, and we figured out how to create more value for our customers,” Vollmar says.
Vollmar has also noticed that ag tech is becoming a hot sector. He points to October’s $930 million acquisition of Climate Corp, which underwrites weather insurance for farmers, by agribusiness giant Monsanto as evidence of the interest and opportunities to innovate in the ag tech space.
