AgriWebb, an Australian agtech startup that opened its North American headquarters in Denver last year, raised $6.7 million to bolster its ranch management software and expand to more farmers.
The amount was added to the startup's Series B financing round, bringing the total for the round to more than $29 million. Germin8 and iSelect Fund — new investors for AgriWebb — contributed the $6.7 million. Grosvenor Food & AgTech, Telus and The Clean Energy Finance Corporation also invested in the Series B round, which was first announced in January 2021.
The additional funding will be used to reach more farmers and ranchers through partnerships, as well as boost the features and capabilities of AgriWebb's software, the startup said. The company’s platform helps ranchers replace handwritten notebooks and optimize their operations digitally.
"Livestock producers deserve better technology to help them maximize their business and consumers need more reliable provenance for the animal and environmental welfare of their food," AgriWebb co-founder Justin Webb said in a statement. "AgriWebb has always been about serving the farmers, and this round of funding doesn’t change our mission; it simply magnifies it.”
Instead of manually collecting, organizing and analyzing data through pen and paper, ranchers with AgriWebb can input records into their mobile devices both online and offline, providing access to real-time insights. With this data, the startup helps ranchers to make better decisions around stocking rates, feed costs, gross margins and more.
AgriWebb also tracks metrics that ranchers can use to ensure they're following sustainable practices. The data can be used to track whether they qualify for environmental services programs, such as benefitting from carbon credits or biodiversity payments.
“There’s a misconception that agriculture is at odds with climate, but the importance of sustainability and implementing sustainable practices is far from lost on farmers and producers," Webb said in a statement. "Sustainable and regenerative practices can and do exist in tandem with productive and profitable farms, and we remain steadfast in our endeavor to support producers now and in the future through data that measures, manages and improves the sustainability of the food supply chain from farm to plate."
AgriWebb announced this week that it joined two project proposals to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Climate-Smart Commodities program — one of which is being led by the American Farmland Trust and the other by the Trust in Food initiative. The goal of both projects is to transition the U.S. beef supply chain to carbon neutral.
Beef is more resource-intensive than other foods, and for every gram of beef produced, 221 grams of carbon dioxide is emitted, according to scientific publication Our World in Data.
Through the USDA initiatives, AgriWebb will help launch carbon-smart programs over the next five years that are aimed at helping about 1,250 farmers and ranchers manage more than 130,000 animals and work toward climate-friendly practices.
"There are very few software offerings capable of accelerating the regenerative agriculture practices our climate stands to benefit from," Michael Lavin, managing partner at Germin8 Ventures, said in a statement. "Even fewer... target livestock production rather than being at odds with it."
