Agtech Startup GroGuru Seeks Funding From Crowdfunding Investors

By James White | Sunday, 20 February 2022 | Startup, Sustainability & Environment, Tech

Startup company GroGuru uses wireless technology to help farmers irrigate crops more efficiently and increase crop yield using real-time data gathered from the soil. The agtech business is attempting to raise new funding for its company through a crowdfunding campaign.

Drawing Support From Crowdfunding Investors

GroGuru is hosting a fundraising campaign on the Wefunder crowdfunding platform. The agtech company’s goal is to raise at least $100,000 in new funding over the course of the campaign. However, GroGuru is prepared to raise more than $4 million for its startup with enough support from crowdfunding investors. According to the Form C filed by the startup business, GroGuru is also open to oversubscriptions.

“GroGuru provides strategic irrigation management, which simply means providing farmers with technology that allows them to make more money, while conserving water and increasing crop yield,” said Patrick Henry. CEO and co-founder of the startup company. “We believe we have not only the best irrigation management solution on the market, but the best team to execute on the opportunity.”

Prior to launching the Wefunder campaign, the agtech startup found support for its business from a number of venture capital firms, including Right Side Capital Management, Longley Capital, and SVG Ventures, among others.

GroGuru plans to use a significant portion of the funding raised during the crowdfunding campaign to launch new marketing initiatives for its irrigation solutions. Additional funds will allow the agtech company to invest in the development of its irrigation management system by hiring additional engineers, acquiring materials, and testing equipment.

How the Business is Conserving Water and Increasing Yield

Co-founded by Henry alongside entrepreneurs Farooq Anjum and Jeff Campbell in 2014, GroGuru aims to replace outdated irrigation management strategies with wireless underground sensors.

The irrigation management system built by the agtech startup utilizes sensors that capture data regarding soil health from the root zone. GroGuru sensors measure important agricultural parameters within the soil, including temperature and moisture content, and relay the information to a cloud-based data set.

The company’s artificial intelligence (AI) technology uses data captured by the sensors in tandem with data on local weather conditions to determine how much water users should use to irrigate the crops. GrowGuru claims that its technology can decrease water consumption by 10% to 20% and increase crop yield by the same amount.

The startup company generates revenue from both hardware operating leases and subscriptions to its standalone software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. The software is also compatible with third-party equipment. GroGuru claims that its business has installed more than 4,000 sensors across the US for use with a variety of different crops.

Taking Advantage of the Growing Smart Irrigation Industry

GroGuru is taking advantage of a growing market opportunity within the agtech industry. According to market research, the global smart irrigation market is expected to reach $2.3 billion by 2026. The industry is expected to register a CAGR of 14.9% over the next few years. Meanwhile, the global agtech market is expected to reach more than $32 billion by 2027.

About the Author

James White

James White is a Michigan State University graduate with a BS in Environmental Biology. He is interested in reporting emerging trends in technology, especially with regard to alternative energy and environmental conservation.