Tel Aviv-based agricultural intelligence company Taranis-Visual Ltd. raised $30 million in a series C round led by Vertex Growth, K3 Ventures, and Japanese multinational Hitachi Group. Taranis is led by a vision to bring precision and control to the agriculture industry across the world, helping growers to maximize and stabilize yield from their crops.
Overseeing millions of farmland acres across the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Russia, Ukraine and Australia, Taranis monitors high volume commodity crops, accounting for 70% of the global crop market (esp. corn, soybean, sugar cane and cotton fields) and gives farmers the tools to address issues in real-time.
“The agtech market will soon see consolidation around imagery with just a few strong players remaining. We firmly believe that Taranis will be leading the pack.”
Hock Chuan Tam, Managing Director of Vertex Growth
Founded in 2015, Taranis has developed artificial intelligence that helps fleets of drones and low-flying aerial vehicles capture ultra-high-resolution imagery mid-flight. These images and data from satellite images, sensors, and smart irrigation systems, detect early signs of crop diseases, insect infestations, nutrient deficiencies, water damage, and other crop risk factors.
The main purpose of the round, is to strengthen the company’s sales and marketing efforts. Taranis is fortunate that its market was not hit by the recession.
Ofir Schlam, Co-Founder and CEO, Taranis
Taranis platform combines three visual layers, and its deep learning then uses advanced mathematical models and computer vision to analyze images against its’ database of over 1 million crop health issues (pest infestation, disease, weeds, nutrient deficiencies, etc.) to generate reports of matters affecting yield and perform tassel counts that accurately estimate yield to streamline operations for harvesting.
“The revolution the agriculture sector is undergoing today is parallel to the one cybersecurity underwent in 2010. The company’s technology is based on four areas: artificial intelligence, software, hardware, and operations.”
Avner Gideoni, Taranis’ Israel country manager
It has partnerships with the leading retail, ag equipment, and crop protection companies, including John Deere, Syngenta, Nutrien, Climate Corp, and BASF. It employs 80 people worldwide, half of them in its research and development center in Tel Aviv.
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