30MHz, the company behind agricultural data platform ZENSIE, will receive an investment of 3.5 million EUR. The amount is used to accelerate product development and to further improve worldwide distribution. It is 30MHz’s vision to create a space where all products and services are digitally accessible for growers, advisers, suppliers, distributors and researchers.
ZENSIE has been developed using expertise from specialists in the horticultural and agricultural sectors, including Wageningen University, Priva, Delphy and Rijk Zwaan. The platform collects and analyses its data from a range of data sources such as crop sensors, climate systems and manual user input. Results are displayed on a customisable, interactive dashboard. Data can also be pushed through to third party applications making ZENSIE suitable for low to high tech organisations. The platform is already used by more than 250 customers including BASF, Enza Zaden, Royal van Zanten and various smaller vegetable and plant nurseries.
Accelerated innovation of the sector
The money has been raised by agricultural related funds: SHIFT Invest and the Rabo F&A Innovation Fund. The investment parties foresee 30MHz playing a major role when it comes to digital agriculture. "We have known the company and the 30MHz Team for a few years and are impressed by their speed and agility. We expect that 30MHz will play a major role within the future development of digital agriculture. On the one hand to accelerate innovation and on the other to achieve higher quality produce with fewer resources," says Guus Verhees, Managing Partner at SHIFT Invest.
Co-Founder and CTO Flavia Paganelli is convinced that growth in the sector is immeasurable, “this sector will always exist, because we need food to survive. We have created a sustainable product that is also available in areas where there are fewer resources, such as economically developing regions. ZENSIE has also made it easier to share knowledge proportionately.”
DIY digitization
30MHz CEO, Jurg van Vliet, says “This specific industry is ripe for DIY digitization – ZENSIE’s ease of use means that it will become the go to product in the market. Although we have only been active in the horticultural and agricultural sector for 2.5 years, we fully understand the potential within this market. By working with our customers and partners we are looking forward to further developing the platform and thanks to this recent investment we are now able to further expand internationally.”
Sustainable agriculture
“Rabobank works on solutions for the world food problem and the strengthening of sustainability in food & agricultural sector. The work of 30MHZ is aligned with the vision of Rabobank to drive sustainable agriculture and therefore Rabobank is willing to support 30MHz and the team in a successful future. With its cost-effective solution to providing detailed crop analytics, from data gathering, to ground-breaking front end analysis and data sharing through its propitiatory platform 30MHZ sets the bar in this field of expertise. Through this investment both parties help each other in their missions.”
Verhees and O’Gorman agree: “30MHz is aligned with our vision to drive sustainable agriculture and we look forward to supporting 30MHz and the team in a successful future”.
For more information:
30mhz.com
shiftinvest.com
rfaif.nl