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Agtech Funding

Growers Edge Closes $40 Million Series B round

July 9, 2020

Growers Edge has announced the close of a $40 million Series B round of financing to accelerate the development of its financial technology products, solutions, and tools for the ag industry.

Based in Johnston, Iowa, the company has pulled together a range of fintech and analytics tools. The system combines data from local growers, agtech vendors, and insurance partners including financial data; agtech field data; grower history; and lending data. That mashup of information is then pushed through the Growers Edge platform to help identify profit opportunities for ag retailers and farmers.

Growers Edge will use the investment to continue to grow its data science team, develop and advance its artificial intelligence platform, and expand into new markets across the United States and around the globe.

“Most of the funds we’ve raised will go toward our product development group, said Dan Cosgrove, CEO of Growers Edge. “Developers, coders, user interface folks, and probably most importantly, our data science group.”

Cosgrove joined the Growers Edge team as Chief Strategy Officer in 2019 and was appointed to CEO in January.

“We need to find and attract those data scientists and use them to build up our analytics so we can quantify all these sales programs that we work with,” said Cosgrove. “Because that allows us to really look at the likelihood that our plans and recommendations have to succeed.”

The round was led by S2G Ventures, Cox Enterprises, and Skyline Global Partners. New strategic investor Bunge Ventures and existing investor Finistere Ventures also joined the round.

The majority of the fundraising effort took place in 2019 and early this year before the pandemic hit, Cosgrove told Clay & Milk.

“Growers Edge has achieved tremendous growth and solidified its position as a key market disruptor by creating a strong network of technology, agent, and farm partners in an extremely short timeframe,” said Sanjeev Krishnan, CIO of S2G in an announcement. “Its industry-changing fintech solutions will dramatically accelerate the adoption of sustainable ag innovations, revolutionizing the ag industry and our global food supply chain.”

Growers Edge currently has 36 employees and plans to hire around 10 more over the next year or two, Cosgrove told Clay & Milk.

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Growers Edge Closes $40 Million Series B round | Clay & Milk
A central Iowa ag-tech accelerator has secured more backers and finally has a name. The Greater Des Moines Partnership first announced the accelerator last year, naming four initial investors. On Monday, the Partnership said the program will be called the "Iowa AgriTech Accelerator" and named three new investors. The new investors include Grinnell Mutual, Kent Corp. and Sukup Manufacturing, all Iowa companies. They join investors Deere & Co., Peoples Co., Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Co. and DuPont Pioneer. Each investor has agreed to put up $100,000 for the first year of the accelerator. Startups entering the program will receive $40,000 in seed funding in exchange for 6 percent equity. Tej Dhawan, an angel investor and local startup mentor, is serving as interim director until the AgriTech Accelerator names a permanent leader. Dhawan held a similar role with the GIA before Brian Hemesath was named as managing director. As interim director, Dhawan said his main job includes hiring the accelerator's executive director, establishing a business structure and initial recruiting for the first cohort. The accelerator will place few filters, such as location and product, on the applicant pool, Dhawan said. "When you’re seeking innovation, innovation can come from every corner of the world so why restrict ourselves," he said. One area the the AgriTech Accelerator won't recruit from is biotech. For its first cohort, the AgriTech Accelerator will work out of the GIA's space in Des Moines' East Village, Dhawan said. A future, permanent home is still to be decided. The accelerator's program will host startups from mid-July through mid-October, ending with an event connected to the annual World Food Prize. The GIA, which the AgriTech Accelerator is based on, also ends with presentations at an industry event. The accelerator has also started lining up a mentor pool. The Iowa Corn Growers Association, Iowa Soybean Association and the Iowa Pork Producers Association have agreed to provide mentors, as has Iowa State University. While the AgriTech Accelerator is loosely based off of the GIA, it will differ in its business structure, Dhawan said. The GIA runs through a for-profit model for both operations and its investment fund. The AgriTech Accelerator will have a nonprofit model for its operations and a for-profit setup for its fund. Dhawan said the nonprofit model is being used so the accelerator can better work with other nonprofit partners, such as trade associations. "These are all organizations that are nonprofits and can be amazing stakeholders without ever having to be investors in the accelerator," he said. "It becomes easier to work with trade associations in their nonprofit role when we are also a nonprofit." When it's up and running, the AgriTech Accelerator would be one of a handful of ag-focused startup development programs in Iowa. Others include the Ag Startup Engine out of Iowa State University and the Rural Ventures Alliance from Iowa MicroLoan. Matthew Patane is the managing editor and co-founder of Clay & Milk. Send him an email at mpatane@clayandmilk.com.
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