Top Agritech Startups To Watch: Q1 2023
With the increasing demand for food on a global scale, we need innovation to help farmers better understand, track, and evaluate their production while saving them time and money. Meeting high production requirements in a time of global food insecurity can be challenging. By adopting new tech into agriculture, farmers can better secure their supply chain and increase efficiency, while making sure the quality of their outputs stays high.
As automation and the introduction of crop and livestock analysis tools streamlines agriculture, we’re entering an era where true transparency is more easily achievable. For this spotlight post about breakthrough innovation in the agriculture industry, we’re featuring three startups that are each tackling a different angle in agritech.
XVirity
In the most direct way, growing is xVirity’s business. xVirity takes efficiency in growth a notch higher. By cocktailing two of the most common resources available to humans – nitrogen and ionized water – xVirity has created a powerful growth serum called xVital.
A lot of research and effort has been channeled by founder Jason Lane and his team of green-thumbed scientists into deriving a perfect recipe. Their natural fertilizer xVital has shown monumental results in creating stronger plants, better growth, enhanced plant health, optimal pH, and reduced rot, fungus, and algae. There’s no runoff, no leftover salts, and you’re left with a healthier environment. It helps farmers reap all the rewards of using fertilizers without the environmental hazards associated with synthesized fertilizers that rely on Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium, drawing their inspiration from the planet's natural processes.
We’re excited to hear how current testing outcomes prove the impact of xVital and are certain xVirity will be gaining lots of press in the coming year.
BeeFree Agro
BeeFree Agro is an Israel-based startup founded in 2020 that provides drone-based autonomous herding. BeeFree’s hero product JOE moves up to 1,000 heads of cattle over vast expanses of land with a single drone and without human intervention. JOE is giving back to herders the power to focus on the bigger picture and worry less about their herd. JOE is able to count and locate your herd and transfer that data immediately.
JOE’s system is built to save time, labor, and transportation costs. A user just needs to input all the parameters of their operation such as fences, gates, and natural boundaries, and JOE then identifies terrain obstacles and the location of the cattle to plan the best route to move the herd.
Recognized by the likes of CNN, we’re really excited to see what the future holds for BeeFree and JOE as it revolutionizes livestock management.
Kheti Buddy
Few startups have a more versatile way of approaching food security than Kheti Buddy. Sustainability is at its core as Kheti leverages artificial intelligence and data science to make farming less of an art and more of a science.
Kheti Buddy AgTech ensures that farmers are able to optimize their farm activities with personalized schedules for each crop, making farming more predictable. Farmers are now able to remotely analyze and make decisions based on weather data and other factors that could influence crop growth. This tech helps identify and solve problems faster to ensure maximum productivity. So far, Kheti Buddy AgTech has been recognized as Asia Pacific's Best Social Impact Venture 2022 awarded by Harvard Business School's Alumni New Venture Competition in 2022, and ranked in the Top 5 AgriTech Startups to Watch in 2022 of Global Startup Heat Map by StartUs Insights in 2021.
Looking at the vast landscape of startups and new technologies, it’s easy to overlook a category like agritech, especially in busy cities where coworking spaces and sleek urban life dominates our sense of what innovative tech is. As we evolve all industries, evaluating the logistics and supply chain powering our world’s food supply is a wise focus for thoughtful evaluation and discovery.
While the majority of food-related startups live in the restaurant management and delivery side of things or the edible innovations in the food and beverage industry, finding the gaps in the ways things have always been done in farming and agriculture is how smart founders are edging into quiet but significant new market share. For more reading material on companies to watch, check out this great round-up of 10 agritech must-follow startups and this thoughtful analysis of the market evolution of how we get our food.
If you find this helpful or have any questions, drop us a line. If you’re a founder in #agritech who’d like to get on our radar, don't hesitate to get in touch and let us know what you’re up to with your startup! We’re here to root you on as you grow — and help new food sources grow.