venture capital Archives

Some ag tech startup companies continue to get funding, but it isn’t as much or as likely as during the pandemic years. Photo: Avalon_Studio/iStock/Getty Images

Ag tech venture capital stays on sidelines

Entrepreneurs need patience, more plan to achieve profitability to unlock investment

By John Greig May 2, 2024

Agriculture venture capital investment was an outlier in 2023, as it increased slightly over 2022, according to the Canadian Venture Capital Association (CVCA). However, that news belied pessimism on the state of ag tech at the recent Agri Tech Venture Forum in Toronto. The forum heard that the availability of capital for agriculture technology entrepreneurs has dried up significantly compared to the heady days of investment growth during the pandemic years.

Farmers Edge’s online event on March 3 included a congratulatory note from TMX Group, owner of the TSX. (Farmers Edge video screengrab)

Crops, Machinery

Farmers Edge launches IPO

Digital ag firm makes first public share offering to big demand

By Gord Gilmour March 3, 2021

Manitoba’s best-known digital agriculture firm is now a publicly-traded company. Farmers Edge, founded in 2005 in Pilot Mound, Man. by agronomists Wade Barnes and Curtis MacKinnon, has carved out a niche using field-centric data, artificial intelligence and its FarmCommand data management platform. CEO Wade Barnes called it an exciting day during an online press conference […] Read more

Louis Dreyfus’ oilseed processing plant at Yorkton, Sask. (LDC.com)

Crops

Louis Dreyfus adds venture capital unit

New unit's potential budget not yet discussed publicly

By Reuters June 18, 2020

Paris | Reuters — Agricultural commodities trader Louis Dreyfus Co. has launched a venture capital program to invest in food and farming firms while also announcing a change of head for its innovation business. “Over the coming months, we will invest in early-stage companies with the potential to transform the food and agriculture industries,” CEO […] Read more

South Korea looked at how it could compete in Asia against much larger technology players like Japan and Asia and it decided that culture and music was an area it could do well.

News

Finding investors for agriculture technology

Agriculture hasn’t attracted the venture capital in Canada to help move local companies to global status, but that could be changing

By John Greig April 26, 2019

There’s been a lack of investors willing to be patient with agriculture technology companies. Malcolm Campbell, vice president of research at the University of Guelph says that’s true especially around the early development stage. University of Guelph’s Gryphon’s LAAIR program helps researchers get to the start-up stage, but he says it could use 10 times […] Read more

Livestock, Machinery, Markets

Farm business tax credits on tap in Manitoba budget

By Farmtario Staff April 30, 2015

Expansions and extensions for tax credits of use to Manitoba farmers and small agribusinesses were laid out Thursday in the province’s latest budget. Finance Minister Greg Dewar’s plan calls for an expansion of the province’s small business venture capital tax credit, broadening its list of eligible businesses to include “non-traditional farming” ventures, as well as […] Read more

Variable rate technology firm Farmers Edge, whose services include lab analysis of soil, seed and plant tissue, has picked up venture capital funding for expansion. (FarmersEdge.ca)

Crops, Machinery, Markets

Minogue: Precision farming seeks new converts at new price point

By Leeann Minogue November 11, 2014

Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield + Byers is investing in ag technology with a new stake in Farmers Edge — which in turn now hopes to build its services’ popularity through more attractive pricing. Winnipeg-based Farmers Edge is one of a number of companies hoping to profit from new technology by packaging data solutions […] Read more

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