Taranis, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based agriculture intelligence platform has announced it has raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Viola Ventures. Existing investors Finistere Ventures, Vertex Ventures, OurCrowd, Eyal Gura, and Gal Yarden participated in this round. And strategic investors Nutrien, Cavallo Ventures (Wilbur-Ellis’ venture capital arm), and Sumitomo Corporation Europe also joined as strategic investors.
Taranis is able to increase yields potentially by 7.5% through the use of deep-learning technology and an agronomic understanding to provide insights for creating a more sustainable farming ecosystem. Taranis’ insights are developed through the use of the company’s patented aerial imagery technology that is placed on high-speed UAVs and manned aircraft.
And Taranis has an extensive database that taps into deep learning technology to identify crop stresses like weeds, insects, and diseases on a granular level—providing magnification of up to 0.5mm. With this information, Taranis turns the collected data into actionable insights. This helps farmers manage their acreage effectively by improving its crop yields and cutting costs in the process.
“We are excited to advance our mission of providing farmers with the technology and know-how to effectively maximize crop yields while maintaining operational efficiency,” said Taranis CEO and co-founder Ofir Schlam in a statement. “We have already helped thousands of farmers monitor crops for potential hazards. Now we’re looking forward to expanding our footprint around the globe.”
Taranis made its second acquisition earlier this year, which is a company called Mavrx. Mavrx’s technology is able to automate crop health alerts for farmers to help quantify what is at risk.
With this round of funding, Taranis is planning to continue enhancing its artificial intelligence solutions and high-resolution imagery tools to accelerate growth in Argentina, Brazil, Russia, the U.S., and expand into Australia. Taranis has now raised a total of $30 million since launching.
“Taranis has all the necessary ingredients to become the leader in farm digitalization: a comprehensive precision agriculture solution, leading industry partners to scale and penetrate the market and a passionate team making it all happen. Taranis’ solution provides both the diagnosis of the problem as well as the cure,” added Viola Ventures partner Zvika Orron.
