Leading Canandian precision-farming platform for permanent crops Semios is acquiring Perth-based agtech business Agworld in a reported $100M deal.
Founded in 2010, Vancouver-based Semios offers Precision Agriculture as a Service™ that includes real-time crop data and pest management tools for growers of tree fruit, nuts and other permanent crops.
This is a major exit for the previous tech business of the year hall of farmer, and a boost for home grown agtech sector in WA. It follows news of acquisitions of Solv and Definitiv in recent weeks.
Together, Semios and Agworld will form one of the largest independent agtech solutions providers in the world, servicing growers, agronomists and ag retailers in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and South Africa.
“Through the acquisition of Agworld, Semios is furthering its commitment to simplifying the grower’s experience through leveraging technology to deliver critical insights,” said Dr. Michael Gilbert, CEO of Semios.
“Agworld and Semios offer farmers complementary solutions that are helping growers manage risk and optimize yields, more sustainably. For our customers, it will be business as usual. The true impact of our combined forces in the global agricultural industry will soon be realized through the increased velocity of our R&D efforts and getting new products to market, benefitting growers who are being tested by mother nature like never before.”
Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Perth, Agworld allows growers to track and share relevant field and reportable data with farmers, advisors and third parties to inform future farming and operational decision-making. Together, Semios and Agworld are serving a Full Crop Cycle Management Ecosystem, enabling growers and their service providers to collaborate using combined tools and datasets to manage their crops through one dashboard for the first time.
“Empowering growers with data for better analysis, insight and action is at the core of what we do,” said Doug Fitch, CEO of Agworld.
The agricultural industry has long demanded the benefits of managing their crops from start to finish with a single solution, which is why I’m so excited about this next step of the journey for both Agworld and Semios together. The availability of important data to growers and their stakeholders for real-time decision-making through one platform is key to improving the sustainable performance of farming operations.
Doug Fitch, Agworld
In June, Semios announced the acquisitions of Altrac and Centricity to deliver more value to farmers through automation, control and compliance so they can focus on what they do best, growing.
Early investor in Agworld was WA-based venture fund Yuuwa Capital, so this represents an excellent result for them. One of the leads, Matt Marfarlane, announcing the deal on LinkedIn added his congratulations.
“Wonderful to see a Perth-based company (backed by some local and international venture funding) achieve such a global milestone. Full credit to Doug Fitch for his leadership throughout the journey,” said Matt.
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