Ceres Imaging Raises $25m Series B for Multi-Spectral Aerial Imaging

CEO Ashwin Madgavkar told AgFunderNews that his company’s ability to identify disease weeks before it can be spotted with the naked eye was resonating with row crop growers, allowing the service to spread quickly. “If you get the timing wrong, you spend a lot of money on the spray and still take the damage from the disease.” Madgavkar said that this round will be put to use in several directions, all aimed at expanding US market share while increasing international presence in Australia and South America, which the company will enter this year, targeting either Brazil or Argentina. Ceres will grow its sales and marketing teams, expand its computer vision and AI capabilities with an eye on sensing pests and disease in areas larger than single farms, such as whole counties. Miller also acknowledged that combing through agtech companies has required some adjustment in expectations of the speed of growth for a software startup aimed at farmers. Ceres competitor Taranis acquired the assets of Marx last month after Mavrx ran into some financial and operational difficulty and was not able to service its clients for the upcoming growing season despite providing a popular product with a 90% customer renewal rate.