United Ventures SGR SpA, an independent venture capital manager specializing in the software and digital technologies sectors, announces the round A of 3 million euro in the startup xFarm. The Swiss fund TiVenture SA is also participating in the financing round. xFarm is a SaaS platform that aims to facilitate the digitization of farms, simplifying data collection and analysis, reducing bureaucracy, improving the efficiency and sustainability of agricultural fields and allowing the traceability of agricultural products. The modular and open platform is based on a freemium business model that integrates cloud management software, IoT sensors for fields and a marketplace with high value-added services, such as irrigation optimization solutions, agro-meteorological forecasts, disease models and related warnings and services for precision agriculture.
The investment will allow xFarm to consolidate its presence on the Italian market ed expand into international markets with a focus on Europe, South America and Africa; as well as strengthening the technological platform (especially in the area of artificial intelligence applied to data and forecasting models, also exploiting blockchain technology) and releasing new modules to customers capable of simplifying and enhancing the management of agricultural fields. The need to optimize the forms and methods of the agri-food industry is made ever more urgent by the progressive increase in the world population, which will go from 7 billion people in 2017 to the 9,7 billion expected for 2050: according to FAO-OECD analyzes , to meet the increase in food needs, world agricultural production should increase by at least 70% compared to the current ones.
The other big theme is that of climate change and its impact on temperature and precipitation, the main variables affecting agricultural production. In this challenging scenario, the effort to make agriculture sustainable passes through innovation, which can substantially reduce the consumption and waste of natural resources. According to data from the Smart AgriFood Observatory, created jointly by the Milan Polytechnic and the University of Brescia, the global value of agriculture 4.0 in 2018 reached 7 billion dollars (double compared to the previous year), of which 30% generated in Europe. Growth is even faster in Italy, where the market has reached a value of between 370 and 430 million euros (+270% in just one year), equal to approximately 5% of the global market and 18% of the generated by over 110 supplier companies including established players and startups offering innovative digital systems and technological consultancy services.
Massimiliano Magrini, co-founder and managing partner of United Ventures, said: “The choice to invest in xFarm responds to our strategy of investing in the digital transformation of traditionally analog sectors and, according to the McKinsey Global Institute's Industry Digitization Index, agriculture remains at today the least digitized of all major industrial sectors. The founder of xFarm, Matteo Vanotti, came to us with this very vision: to create an application that can help and simplify the work of farmers. A world that he knows well, because before being an engineer and an entrepreneur he is a farmer himself, who has always been involved in the family farm. We believe that Matteo and his team are true game changers, and that they have the right skills and ambition to scale the business internationally and become the reference platform for farmers who want to manage their farms digitally”.
Paolo Orsatti, managing partner of TiVenture, added: “TiVenture is proud to participate in the investment in xFarm, an opportunity that presents all the conditions for creating a successful digital company: a market with enormous development potential, a team of young entrepreneurs focused on achieving corporate objectives and a financial partner of the caliber of United Ventures, able to follow the company in all its growth phases”.
Matthew Vanotti, engineer and farmer, founder of xFarm, says “I am very happy to have expanded the xFarm team with United Ventures and TiVenture. The xFarm project was born to help farmers be more efficient thanks to the use of technology and with this investment we aim to enrich our digital platform with new features and expand the number of farmers beyond those who have already chosen to use the our service. Digital transformation in the agricultural sector is a topic of great interest and growing rapidly, both in small and large companies. This theme also affects the industries of the agri-food chain, which we help with analytical and traceability tools. I take this opportunity to thank our partners, my associates and all the collaborators of xFarm, for the incredible work done so far".
