{"id":5308,"date":"2017-05-10T15:09:13","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T15:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/ceres-imaging-raises-5-million-to-pinpoint-crop-stress-for-farmers.html"},"modified":"2017-05-10T15:09:13","modified_gmt":"2017-05-10T15:09:13","slug":"ceres-imaging-raises-5-million-to-pinpoint-crop-stress-for-farmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/ceres-imaging-raises-5-million-to-pinpoint-crop-stress-for-farmers.html","title":{"rendered":"Ceres Imaging raises $5 million to pinpoint crop stress for farmers"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Oakland, Calif.-based Ceres Imaging <\/a>has raised $5 million in a Series A investment led by Romulus Capital<\/a>.\u00a0The startup uses cameras, sensors and software to pinpoint crop stress in the field for farmers, so that they can apply herbicides, pesticides and irrigation just where it\u2019s needed.<\/p>\n

Ceres, like several other startups,\u00a0started out with the notion to build a drone just for agricultural use. However, according to CEO and founder Founder Ashwin Madgavkar, the company quickly realized commercial farmers needed to cover thousands of acres,\u00a0proving too big a job for most drones.<\/p>\n

Instead, Madgavkar said, the company has\u00a0developed a proprietary sensor and camera which pilots in traditional aircraft, like Cessnas, can fly over vast swathes of farmland every day.<\/p>\n

Besides its sensors, the company has created image analyzing software that can\u00a0zero in on just the vegetation, leaving out soil and shadows in post-processing analysis. \u201cWe translate spectral signatures into what\u2019s happening on the ground,\u201d the CEO said. The company has worked closely with researchers and data from UC Davis\u00a0to perfect its analytics.<\/p>\n

Romulus Capital<\/a> founder Krishna K. Gupta said Ceres stood out from other agtech players because it is using hyper spectral imaging to provide \u201cground-level insights\u201d to farmers.\u00a0Many\u00a0other companies rely on\u00a0the\u00a0\u201cNDVI,\u201d the\u00a0normalized difference vegetation index for crop analysis. This provides a\u00a0measure of leaves per unit area. \u201cCeres\u00a0can get a finer grain detail on what a farmer\u2019s crops, irrigation and nutrient profile looks like,\u201d Krishna said.<\/p>\n

Ceres is already working with six out of ten of the world\u2019s largest tree nut and vine growers with most of its work in California and Australia today, Madgavkar\u00a0said. It provides imaging for at least 10% of the global almond industry now.<\/p>\n

The company plans to use its Series A funding for hiring, expanding its sales and marketing efforts, and to adapt its analytics to help growers of\u00a0corn, soy and other commodity crops in the Midwest, the CEO said.<\/p>\n

Competitors include TerrAvion,<\/a> Intelinair,\u00a0<\/a>and drone-based solutions like PrecisionHawk<\/a>\u00a0to name a few.<\/p>\n

Prior to raising its Series A round, Ceres attained $1 million in non-dilutive grant funding from the likes of water tech accelerator ImagineH2O<\/a>, and the Elemental Excelerator<\/a>,\u00a0a non-profit backed by Laurene Powell Jobs\u2019 Emerson Collective.<\/p>\n

While regulation can hamper some startups, Madgavkar said it\u2019s actually aiding demand for Ceres\u2019 technology. \u201cFarmers are dealing with increased regulation which\u00a0prevents them from just applying a lot of chemicals and fertilizers like they used to,\u201d he said. Being able to look on a map, and quickly see where a crop is experiencing stress, or where the soil may be lacking nitrogen or potassium, helps them work within the new rules.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Featured Image: Asha Gupta<\/a>\/Flickr<\/a> UNDER A CC BY 2.0<\/a> LICENSE<\/small><\/p>\n

Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunchIt\/~3\/Otffbs0eSTM\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oakland, Calif.-based Ceres Imaging has raised $5 million in a Series A investment led by Romulus Capital.\u00a0The startup uses cameras, sensors and software to pinpoint crop stress in the field <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[19],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-5308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-enterprise-software","tag-enterprise"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t