Agtech startup looks to accelerate autonomous irrigation
WaterBit enables growers to control local irrigation considering plant stage, soil conditions, and weather, at a level of granularity and accuracy, says the company, that is not possible with manual control or using programmable logic controller (PLC) based methods. The $11.4 million Series A round of financing was led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) – whose Managing General Partner Scott Sandell will also join WaterBit’s Board of Directors – with participation from TJ Rodgers, former CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, and Heuristic Capital.
WaterBit says it is addressing the global problem of fresh water scarcity for food production by providing growers with tools to analyze granular, “ground-truth” data collected through its IoT sensors and to monitor and control irrigation via cloud-based software. Using WaterBit, growers can maximize yield across soil types, while optimizing the use of labor and other input resources.
The company’s solar-powered Carbon sensor data capture and control device (pictured above) is said to install in minutes, and collects data from sensors and controls irrigation valves 24/7. It pairs with devices to monitor soil moisture, water pressure and flow along with weather conditions.
“WaterBit provides measurable benefit to growers and the environment by using WaterBit AIS technology components to transform the way water is delivered to the crop,” says Andrew Wright, WaterBit CEO. “The financial backing and support of both NEA and Scott Sandell are instrumental steps towards WaterBit achieving our vision of improving worldwide agricultural efficiency and agricultural water use efficiency by 50% or more.”
The company says this investment will enable it to continue to accelerate its product development of automated irrigation solutions with the goal of fully autonomous irrigation, expand sales and marketing efforts, as well as progress towards its objective of enabling growers to maximize the use of their scarce resources and increase yields.
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