Each year we handpick some of the most exciting early-stage agri-tech companies to take part in the REAP Start-up Showcase.
While not all of these disruptive technologies will reach the market, a high proportion of those featured at REAP are making good progress. Fourteen of the companies featured have raised over £120M in the last three years and others are making waves across the industry. Find out more below.
AgriSound provides beekeepers with a range of solutions to enable remote management of hives. It presented at COP26, has raised £250K and is deploying 1 million sensors.
Appeared in 2021.
Antobot is developing small, intelligent, affordable robotics for sustainable agriculture; it secured £1.2M in seed funding in 2020.
Appeared in 2020.
Better Origin has developed the world’s first autonomous insect mini-farm. It uses insects to create protein for animal feed from food waste. The company raised $16M in 2022.
Appeared in 2015.
Breedr is a productivity and marketing platform that allow farmers to track everything about their animals to improve animal welfare and profitability. It raised $15.8M in 2022.
Appeared in 2018.
Dogtooth is developing intelligent robots for soft fruit picking. It raised £7M in a Series A funding round in 2021.
Appeared in 2016.
EcoNomad Solutions offers an affordable waste to energy solution for smallholder farmers. Its technology uses bacteria to generate biogas. It has raised funding through SHAKE.
Appeared in 2019.
fieldmargin is an innovative farm mapping software helping farmers to make more informed day-to-day decisions. Its product is used by thousands of farms across 170 countries.
Appeared in 2015.
Fieldwork Robotics has developed soft, selective, and autonomous raspberry-harvesting robots. Their Seedrs campaign in May 2023 raised £1.1M.
Appeared in 2021.
FOLIUM Science‘s Guided Biotics® technology supports a healthy microbiome – in plants and livestock. It gained UKRI funding for a collaborative project to control Pseudomonas and boost yield in tomatoes.
Appeared in 2018.
FOTENIX Technology offers cost-effective crop analysis in the field. It has partnered with major robotics manufacturers and was selected for Tesco Agri T-Jam in 2020.
Appeared in 2019.
FA-Bio (previously FungiAlert) based at Rothamsted, created SporSenZ a tool for soil microbial analysis. They have deployed 2600 units across the world. FA-Bio were awarded funding from the Farming Innovation Programme in June 2023 to develop a biopesticide using native soil and plant inhabiting fungi.
Appeared in 2016.
Gardin‘s UL listed Phenotyping Sensor device provides early indication of plant stress through analysing photosynthetic performance in greenhouses and vertical farms. It raised $1.2M in pre-seed funding in 2021 and £8.15M in seed funding for its optical sensors.
Appeared in 2021.
GLAS Data offers a easy-to-use data collection and benchmarking platform for use in the field. It has raised £141K to further develop its products.
Appeared in 2019
Hummingbird Technologies has created remote monitoring, reporting, and verification satellite technology to support regenerative agriculture. It raised £3.5M in 2020 and, following years of collaboration, was acquired by Agreena, in 2022.
Appeared in 2016.
MOA Technology is a plant genetics company spun out from the University of Oxford. It’s 2020 Series B round closed on $44M.
Appeared in 2019.
PBD Biotech has developed an Actiphage® diagnostics kit for the rapid, sensitive blood/milk testing for bovine TB and Johne’s Disease. It has raised over £2M and launched a commercial Johne’s Disease testing service. In January 2023 it refocused efforts on Human TB.
Appeared in 2016.
PheroSyn develops and produces novel pest pheromones. It raised a £200K Innovate UK grant in 2021, embarked on a 36-month collaboration project with Rothamsted Research in 2022. And in 2023, they won the Radicle Inclusion Challenge securing a USD $750,000 investment.
Appeared in 2020.
Small Robot Company has created an autonomous, precision agri-robotic farming system called Farming as a Service (FaaS). It raised £10.2M million over six campaigns and in June 2023 it announced its first commercial sale of their ‘Tom v4’ to the National Robotarium.
Appeared in 2017.
Yagro uses data analytics to improve business decisions, aggregating on-farm data to provide detail and insight into current and historical performance. In 2021, Yagro joined the Frontier Group and in 2023 they launched Yagro Tracker for live tracking of costs and sales.
Appeared in 2015.
Zelp aims to significantly reduce environmental impacts of livestock industry via their methane-targeting wearables for cattle. It raised $10M Series A funding in 2021.
Appeared in 2019.
We are keeping the line-up for the 2023 Start-Up Showcase companies under wraps until REAP 2023 – join us live on 8 November to find out who will be the next big players in agri-tech.
REAP Conference 2023:
Adaptation Through Innovation; Beyond the Comfort Zone
Wednesday 8th November, 9:30 am – 6:30 pm
Rowley Mile Conference Centre, Newmarket