Agtech company SeeTree raises $30 million to scale globally and expand into new crops

SeeTree, an Israeli agtech platform that provides growers with intelligence on trees and tree clusters, has raised $30 million in Series B funding from an interesting set of investors. Leading the round is the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. Others include Citrosuco, one of the world’s largest orange juice producers; Orbia Ventures, corporate VC of Orbia, a global provider of solutions for rapid urbanization and water and food scarcity; and Kubota, a Japanese manufacturer specializing in tractor and agricultural equipment. Hanaco Venture, which led the startup’s $11.5 million Series A about two years ago, participated again, too. The agtech system reports to farmers about tree health, pest and disease tracking. It identifies the health and growth rates of every tree in a farmer’s grove and helps create personalised cultivation plans for each tree or cluster of trees. SeeTree collects ultra high resolution images captured by drones and multi-spectral sensors, tree and soil samples, and then analyses the data through machine learning algorithms. Founded in 2017, SeeTree operates in South Africa, the US, Chile and Brazil and observes over 50 million trees around the world. By 2023, the company says, that number will be 1 billion. Moving forward the company will apply the product to other crops, as well.

Photo: SeeTree co-founders Barak Hachamov (chairman), Israel Talpaz (CEO) and Guy Morgenstern (CTO)