Verdi, a company making irrigation automation accessible to every farm, announced it has raised $6.5 million CAD ($4.7 million USD) in its latest oversubscribed seed round, bringing the total funding to $9.5 million. The funding round was led by SVG Ventures, with participation from NEC X, Ponderosa Ventures (a member of Galvanize Climate Solutions’ platform), Elemental Impact, GenomeBC, One Small Planet, Waterpoint Lane, Dangerous Ventures, VentureUs, Echo River Capital, Cyan Ventures, Jetstream, and Baker Hall Capital.
Value proposition: Automating irrigation traditionally required costly and complex infrastructure upgrades, limiting widespread adoption. And Verdi’s patented smart devices retrofit intelligence onto existing irrigation infrastructure, eliminating the need for disruptive rollouts. Its technology also enables advanced capabilities such as remote leak detection and row-level irrigation control.
Farms utilizing Verdi have seen up to 90% labor savings, 70% water savings, and 20% yield improvements, while reducing automation costs by an order of magnitude. This accessible approach has fueled Verdi’s growth across the US and Canada, more than doubling its team in the past year to 24 experts in agronomy, hardware, and AI-driven software.
Momentum: This funding follows a breakout year for Verdi, which now powers irrigation automation for some of the world’s largest food and beverage brands on more than 5,000 acres of farmland in North America. Agriculture producers have been drawn to its ability to retrofit to existing infrastructure and deliver immediate results. Last year alone, Verdi saved customers over $1 million in irrigation labor costs while saving them over 100 million liters of water.
What the funding will be used for: With this new investment, Verdi will continue expanding into new regions, advancing its AI-powered platform, and deepening its relationships with major agribusinesses to drive automation at scale and build a more climate-resilient food system.
KEY QUOTES:
“Our mission is to overcome the traditional adoption barriers that have prevented farmers from scaling irrigation automation, and in turn allow them to increase farm efficiency and resilience. This round fuels our ability to scale rapidly and continue delivering impact where it matters most – on the farm.”
Arthur Chen, CEO and Co-founder of Verdi
“We invested in Verdi because they’re solving one of agriculture’s biggest challenges – climate resilience – through a solution that is not only innovative but also practical and scalable. Their ability to integrate with existing farm infrastructure makes their platform a game-changer for growers looking to stay competitive in a changing world.”
John Hartnett, CEO of SVG Ventures
