Ag Tech Investments News
Interest in AgTech Investment is Heating Up
Mimosa Technology won the Vietnam round of Seedstars World, a competition for emerging-market startups, in May. There were over 70 fledgling Vietnamese companies taking part in the contest, some focused on areas like health care, on the other hand MimosaTek specializes in information technology for agriculture.
Interest in "agtech" which covers everything from biotechnology to online food retailing is heating up.
Last year saw $4.6 billion in venture investment, comprising 526 deals by 672 investors, according to AgFunder, an online investment marketplace for agriculture. Although the pace is expected to slow in 2016 due to the decline in activity by venture capitalists, agtech still managed to rake in $1.8 billion in the first half of 2016, spread over 307 deals involving 425 investors.
MimosaTek uses sensors to continuously monitor environmental factors and soil humidity, crunching the data and using a smartphone app to let large and small farmers know when and how much to irrigate their crops. Farmers can even activate equipment such as water pumps remotely, and record crop growth using the app. MimosaTek claims its system can cut water and electricity use by up to 30% and increase yield by up to 25% for some crops, such as tomatoes.