A 3-year-old Raleigh startup has scored more than $10 million, a funding round led by one of the largest agricultural technology firms in the world, Bayer.
Earth Optics, formerly known as GroundTruth Ag, closed on $10 million in equity from six investors, according to a securities filing. According to the company, the total raised is actually $10.3 million.
In an interview, CEO Lars Dyrud said the raise will help the firm advance on its mission of being the “Google Maps” for farming.
“Really what we’re working on growing into is our long-term vision,” he said, “to take soil measurements into the 21st century.”
With a soil sample that's smaller than a typical one – which means less lab processing time – Earth Optics can glean a lot of information about the earth that data farmers can use to make decisions.
Today, a billion dollars is lost in tilling soil that’s not actually compacted, for example, Dyrud said. Earth Optics’ machine learning technology can map out the field, helping a farmer identify which stretches are compacted and actually in need of tilling. The technology can also identify soil carbon content.
The company, which has 25 employees, is also building out its team. It’s currently hiring in areas such as software and machine learning. Earth Optics is already inking revenue, and is on track to grow 100 percent year over year, Dyrud said. The latest tranche of funding comes with an “indefinite runway,” he said.
And Bayer’s involvement through its impact investing arm Leaps by Bayer, which came alongside funds from backers that included S2G Ventures, FHB Ventures, Middleland Capital’s BTV Ventures and Route 66 Ventures, is validation. Bayer, a funder in its first round, asked Earth Optics if it could lead the latest tranche, “and we said yes,” Dyrud said.
The company spun out of the AgTech Accelerator in Research Triangle Park in 2018 with an initial $2 million fundraise. At the time, it was called GroundTruth Ag. Its founding technology came out of a sponsored research program out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dyrud has founded three companies. Prior to his tenure at EarthOptics, he founded OmniEarth, which was acquired by EagleView Technologies.