20 Agtech Companies & Startups On The Rise In 2024
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The agriculture industry is gradually transforming into the next high-tech sector.
Technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, and computer vision are being leveraged to improve crop yields, supply chains, and sustainability.
By 2025, the market value of the global agtech industry is expected to surpass the $22.5 billion mark.
As new technologies continue being integrated into agriculture, the number of agtech startups is rising. We’ve rounded up 20 of the fastest growing agtech companies to keep an eye on.
1. The Crop Project
5-year search growth: 119%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2020
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Funding: $1.5M (Seed)
What they do: The Crop Project is an AgTech startup focused on regenerative agriculture practices. Specifically, the startup buys kelp from farmers. They then dry and mill that help so that it can be used to make food, fertilizers and biomaterials. According to the company, they work with kelp because it is a regenerative crop that can produce biomass with zero inputs, captures carbon, and reduces ocean acidification. The startup harvested over 5,000 pounds of kelp last year. The Crop Project has raised $1.5M in funding (Pitchbook).
2. DeHaat
5-year search growth: 36%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2012
Location: Bihar, India
Funding: $254.3M (Series E)
What they do: DeHaat is an Indian agtech startup that aims to empower small farmers by providing them with end-to-end agricultural services. The company offers a range of solutions, including access to quality seeds, fertilizers, and crop protection products, as well as advisory services and market linkages. Through its digital platform, DeHaat has helped thousands of farmers increase their yields, reduce costs, and improve their livelihoods.
3. ProducePay
5-year search growth: 213%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2014
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Funding: $342.9M (Series C)
What they do: Combining fintech and agritech, ProducePay offers pre-harvest financing to fresh produce growers. They also offer a grower-distributor network, a pricing and weather alerts tool, and sales analytics. The company currently has 800+ customers.
4. Future Fields
5-year search growth: 98%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2018
Location: Edmonton, Canada
Funding: $13.4M (Series A)
What they do: Future Fields is an agtech company focused on sustainable recombinant protein production. They utilize their own technology, the EntoEngine platform, to harness fruit flies to produce these proteins while reducing their environmental footprint. In February 2023, the startup secured $11.2 million in Series A funding to build a production facility and scale operations.
5. Trace Genomics
5-year search growth: 0%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2015
Location: Burlingame, CA
Funding: $39.7M (Convertible Note)
What they do: Trace Genomics is an agricultural technology company that serves agronomists. The startup uses DNA extraction and machine learning to provide data on soil samples. Trace Genomics was selected as a technology pioneer by the World Economic Forum in 2020.
6. BharatAgri
5-year search growth: 600%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2017
Location: Karnataka, India
Funding: $17.3M (Series A)
What they do: BharatAgri is an India-based farming technology platform that offers farmers personalized advice and actionable insights to increase farming output. The startups' algorithm, LeanNutri, assists farmers in decision-making and season-long planning with a focus on nutrient management and pest and disease control. Beyond these personalized services, the company has an online marketplace for farming related essentials including fertilizer, seeds, equipment, and more.
7. Wefarm
5-year search growth: -20%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2015
Location: London, UK
Funding: $32M (Series A)
What they do: A platform for independent farmers, Wefarm offers open-source farming resources and access to physical retailers. The network enables farmers to connect with each other via SMS or through the app. The platform is currently used by 2.4 million farmers.
8. Sencrop
5-year search growth: 53%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2016
Location: Lille, France
Funding: $30M (Series B)
What they do: Sencrop is a micro-climate technology company that helps farmers limit their crop risks from environmental impact. The startup uses weather station technology to provide farmers with real-time information about weather conditions, water stress, plant growth stages, disease, pest development conditions, and more. Currently, Sencrop serves more than 20,000 farmers and professionals in over 20 countries.
9. Ynsect
5-year search growth: 2,700%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2011
Location: Paris, France
Funding: $579.1M (Series D)
What they do: Ynsect is a French agtech company that specializes in insect breeding and processing for animal feed and plant fertilizers. They have developed a proprietary process to produce high-quality insect protein and oil products for aquaculture, pet food, and specialty feed markets. The company aims to provide a sustainable solution to the increasing demand for protein-rich feed and fertilizer alternatives while reducing the environmental impact of traditional farming methods.
10. Indigo
5-year search growth: 16%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2014
Location: Boston, MA
Funding: $1.4B (Series Unknown)
What they do: Combining digital technologies with microbiology, Indigo offers sustainable solutions to both growers and grain buyers. In addition to biological products, the company also offers a logistics platform and an online marketplace for farmers and buyers. According to their website, 100 million bushels have been transacted over the Indigo marketplace.
11. Augmenta
5-year search growth: 142%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2016
Location: Athens, Greece
Funding: $11.2M (Series A)
What they do: Offering precision agriculture solutions, Augmenta targets farmers and agricultural companies. They offer field analysis, fleet monitoring, and analytics designed to help improve crop yield and save money. Augmenta reports that their products have been used in 14,557+ hectares of farmlands.
12. Apeel Sciences
5-year search growth: 550%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2012
Location: Goleta, CA
Funding: $719.1M (Debt Financing)
What they do: Apeel is a biotech company that offers a plant-based shelf-life extending solution. The company claims that their product can keep produce fresh for twice as long when compared to regular packaging. Apeel reports that, so far, they have saved over 61 million products from going to waste.
13. Aerobotics
5-year search growth: 333%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2014
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Funding: $26.8M (Series B)
What they do: Aerobotics offers solutions that provide insights to growers and insurers about crops and farm fields. They leverage drones and aerial imagery to help identify problems with crop yields. Aerobotics says that its customer footprint is spread across 18+ countries.
14. Mootral
5-year search growth: 0%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2018
Location: Abertillery, UK
Funding: $24M (Series A)
What they do: Mootral is an agtech company that develops feed supplements for cattle. Their solutions are designed to reduce methane emissions from cows, goats, and sheep. The company claims that its solutions can result in a 38% reduction in emissions.
15. Terramera
5-year search growth: -0%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2010
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Funding: $97.8M (Grant)
What they do: An agtech company, Terramera offers plant-based pest control products. The company also offers a platform for regenerative agriculture called “Actigate”. According to their website, the platform was recognized by Fast Company as a World Changing Idea in 2020.
16. Entocycle
5-year search growth: 0%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2014
Location: London, UK
Funding: $16M (Series A)
What they do: Entocycle is an agtech company that produces insect-based animal feed and grass. The company claims that its products result in a much smaller ecological footprint than traditional protein-based feed. Entocycle is currently breeding millions of insects to manufacture its products.
17. TerViva
5-year search growth: 8,700%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2010
Location: Alameda, CA
Funding: $98.6M (Series E)
What they do: TerViva is an agricultural technology company that focuses on restoring degraded farmlands. They do this by producing Pongamia trees that yield oil-rich seeds. TerViva claims that they currently have 150,000 trees under contract.
18. Infarm
5-year search growth: -3%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2013
Location: Berlin, Germany
Funding: $604.5M (Series D)
What they do: Infarm is an IoT and agtech startup that builds vertical farms in cities. By placing their hydroponic indoor farms closer to the end destinations, the company aims to cut down on transportation costs and water usage. Infarm reports that their farms grow 250,000+ plants on a monthly basis.
19. Hazel Technologies
5-year search growth: 111%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2015
Location: Chicago, IL
Funding: $87.8M (Series C)
What they do: A biotech company, Hazel Technologies offers sustainable supply chain solutions. Specifically, they offer products designed to extend the shelf-life of fresh produce. It is reported that the company currently has 160 customers, including Zespri and Mission Produce.
20. XFarm
5-year search growth: 3,300%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2017
Location: Manno, Switzerland
Funding: $20.7M (Series B)
What they do: XFarm is a farming application and tech company that allows users to oversee all aspects of their agricultural operations from a single platform. Key features include field and activity management, machinery tracking, irrigation guidance, environmental monitoring, and crop protection. Today, XFarm is used by over 300,000 farms in more than 100 countries worldwide.
Conclusion
That concludes our list of 20 fast-growing agtech startups to keep an eye on in 2024.
With climate change becoming a pressing issue, agritech is going to play a crucial role in the future. And as we’ve seen above, agtech solutions are quite diverse, ranging from sustainable animal health food production to vertical farming and automation.
We can expect a lot of venture capital money to go into this industry in the years to come.
