EIT Food supported startup Sencrop secures $18 million to help farmers mitigate crop risks
French startup Sencrop has secured $18 million in investment, with support from EIT Food, to help scale its weather forecasting services for food producers.
Sencrop, a French company developing a unique microclimate monitoring and forecasting technology for farmers and food producers, has successfully finalised its Series B investment round, securing $18 million. Through its forecasting service, the startup enables more than 20,000 food producers to access ultra-precise and ultra-local information to improve monitoring of their crops. The investment round was led by Jerusalem Venture Partners, with EIT Food taking a minority stake in the investment round.
Through Sencrop’s subscription service, its customer base of farmers and food producers can access real-time and historical data for weather conditions including temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind speed and sunlight. They can also move around the map, set up alerts and select between multiple forecasting models to prepare for upcoming conditions and anticipate agronomic risks.
With the insights gained from Sencrop’s network of interconnected weather stations, its customers are better placed to mitigate the risks faced by their crops. The weather data also allows them to optimise their chemical and water usage, reducing the environmental impact of their operations.
The $18 million of funding will enable Sencrop to accelerate its international expansion, starting with North America. Sencrop will also use some of the capital to open an extension at the new International Foodtech Center in Israel.
“Sencrop’s mission is to democratise precision farming and reduce crop risks for farmers. We have developed a unique microclimate technology which is providing more than 20,000 professionals — farmers, winegrowers, fruit growers, etc. — with access to ultra-precise and ultra-local information for better daily monitoring of their crops and the risks on their plots.”
In 2020, Sencrop was a recipient of EIT Food’s COVID-19 Bridge Fund, which invested over €5 million in 13 high-impact agrifood startups during the COVID-19 crisis.
