The Ann Arbor, MI-based ag tech startup FarmLogs announced today that it has raised a $10 million Series B round of funding. The round included repeat investors Huron River Ventures, Hyde Park Ventures, and Drive Capital, as well as new investment from Sam Altman, president of Y Combinator, and SV Angel.
“It’s very exciting,” Vollmar says of the new funding. “We get to keep pushing full speed ahead.”
The announcement closes a second straight year of explosive growth for the company, and one in which its co-founder, Jesse Vollmar, was named to Forbes’ annual “30 Under 30” list. FarmLogs says its crop management software is now used on 15 percent of all U.S. farms.
Vollmar says he’s particularly happy to have Altman joining the team of company backers. (FarmLogs is a 2012 Y Combinator alum.) Most of the new capital will go toward hiring and product development, Vollmar says. The FarmLogs team is up to 22 people, and Vollmar expects to nearly double that number in the next year.
What FarmLogs seeks to do is reimagine the future of farming. Its app, available as a free download, helps farmers manage risk while tracking the progress of their crops. It also helps them stay on top of expenses, profits, weather, and prices.
In the spring, FarmLogs will introduce a new yield support feature that will allow farmers to upload machine-generated data as they sow their fields, regardless of whether their equipment is made by John Deere, Peterbilt, or any other brand, and have it analyzed by FarmLogs. For example, farmers would be able to see where fertilizer might need to be added. “They can turn it into a map of their field’s output, and then they can use that information to adjust resources,” Vollmar says.
It’s one of a “slew of new features” Vollmar says is coming in the next year. The company has also been working with farmers to find out what kind of premium offerings it might be able charge money for. Vollmar expects some of those new premium features to roll out in the spring.
“At the same time, we’ll continue to invest in our free product and build an amazing company right here in Ann Arbor,” he adds.
