CropX

CropX is an agriculture-analytics company thats developed an advanced adaptive irrigation system.

CropX automatically optimizes irrigation, generating accurate irrigation maps and applying the right amount of water to different parts of the same field. The effect is dramatic crop yield increases, as well as water and energy cost savings, while helping to conserve the environment.

Land is not uniform and water requirements for farmland vary throughout the year and throughout different locations on the farm – so even different parts of the same field require different amounts of irrigation. However, current irrigation systems water fields evenly, without taking factors such as season, topography and soil conditions into account. As a result, some patches of land receive too much water while others receive too little. This wastes water and energy, and represses crop yield. It also results in harmful leachate and runoff of fertilizer and pesticide chemicals, which impact the environment.

CropX’s service is the world’s first and only automated adaptive differential irrigation solution, which successfully addresses this challenge. Its sensors and software thoroughly analyze the field, its soil structure and its current condition, to determine the right amount of water each part of the field needs in real time. It then directs sprinklers to deliver the right amount of water to the right area of farmland. The farmer may view the irrigation map and status on his/her mobile phone, and with five clicks or less, can modify it as needed.

CropX’s technology was developed by a team of world-leading scientists and has been validated on-farm over the past five years. Since agricultural water usage is restricted in most countries, farmers are not able to increase yield by simply “using more water,” and early implementations have been shown to cut water usage by 7-25%.

In the last year, the company has expanded to the United States and doubled the land area subscribing to its solution from 1,000 to 2,000 hectares spanning 15 farms (40 plots of land) in Kansas, Missouri and Colorado. The sensors have also undergone considerable improvement, resulting in reduced size, 2X-4X battery life increase, integrated circuitry, cellular capabilities and plug-and-play functionality.

Customer feedback has also revealed two new uses for the product: first, in determining the optimum time of the year to turn sprinklers on and off based on the state of the soil, and second, in optimizing non-irrigation practices such as seeding and fertilization (both new uses have been validated by customer demand).

The micro irrigation system market, which CropX is targeting, is expected to reach $3.4 billion by 2016, growing at a CAGR of 17.9% from 2011 to 2016. The sprinkler irrigation market, to which CropX plans to sell, makes up almost 75% of this market and is valued at $2.55 billion.

Team Background

Yossi Haran - VP of Technology

Prior to joining CropX, Yossi was the CEO & VP of R&D at Scentcom, which developed “digital scent” technologies for the interactive entertainment industry (i.e. delivery systems that stimulate a gamer's olfactory system in real time synchronization).

Previously, he was the Head of the Radiotherapy Group at Initia, a medical technologies company that develops devices for Urology exams and Radiation Therapy. Yossi was also the VP of Strategy & Business Development at Olive Software, the leading provider of digital edition and digital archiving solutions for the publishing industry.

Yossi also Co-Founded and led R&D for Virtual Ego, which developed a software platform for on-line interactive 3D games.

Isaac Bentwich - Founder & CEO

Prior to founding CropX, Isaac was the Founder of Rosetta Genomics, where he led the discovery of the majority of known human and viral microRNAs, as well as their commercialization as effective diagnostic biomarkers. Isaac also led the company through its IPO.

Previously, Isaac served as the Executive Vice President of Physician’s Solutions at HBOC, now a part of McKesson Corporation, a healthcare services company. There, he guided development, implementation and sales-support of HBOC's market leading Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system

Isaac was also the Founder & CEO of Pegasus Medical, a small Israeli medical-informatics company which was acquired by HBOC.

Isaac holds an MD from Ben-Gurion University and has co-authored 45 patent applications.

Co-Investors

Innovation Endeavors

Venture capital firm founded by Google Chairman Eric Schmidt. Investor in Uber, AngelList, SoFi, BillGuard and Upstart.

Finistere Ventures

Venture capital firm focused on life sciences.

GreenSoil Investments

International fund focused on companies that create value by enabling smart and efficient resource utilization