Planting a seed in the agri-tech market

The agri-tech market continues to grow all over the world. With so many challenges prominent with food such as shortages, supply chain issues, and the environment, technology may be the simple answer to solving many of the problems.

Globally, the agri-tech market was valued at $17B in 2019 and is projected to reach $41B by 2027 at a CAGR of 11.3% from 2019 to 2027. North America has the largest revenue share of the market at 38.59% in 2019, followed by APAC and Europe.

Within the UK, the agri-tech market is expanding through both public and private investment. The UK government launched a £24 million package last summer that will boost agri-tech projects across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This includes projects that involve bringing big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to the country’s farming industry. 

In terms of the private sector, Agri-tech deal activity grew for the fourth consecutive quarter in Q1’21. Some deals within the sector were:

• Omega Crop raises £1.2m to advance agricultural yield prediction and crop loss diagnosis technology. Omega Crop’s remote sensing and individual plant-level modelling enables agronomists to better predict crop yields, diagnose potential losses and support farms to reach full productivity.
• Cropdesk, a Dorset-based cloud computing start-up that monitors farm productivity has raised £235,000 in Innovate UK funding.
• Wefarm, the world’s largest platform for small-scale farmers, will expand its SMS service into an online platform, following an $11 million Series A-Plus round.  

At Polestar, one of our contacts owns a vertical farming business in the West Midlands. They have received an offer for the business, but are waiting to see if a better one arrives in the coming months.

This is a market definitely worth keeping an eye on, especially as agri-tech becomes more innovative with the advancement of technology. Through our previous deals within agriculture and research done within this area, Polestar would love to help expand your business in this growing field.