Australian ag-tech company GoannaAg has secured $3.35 million in growth funding to advance on-farm sensor technology
Westpac Bank, GrainCorp and Michael Hintze Premium Farms (MHPF) are among the contributing organisations.
The substantial funding will add to the initial investment made by Delta Agribusiness and David Murray, to be used by GoannaAg’ to expand its team to further develop and deploy on-farm sensor solutions and the completion of their LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network) network for the Australian cotton industry.
“GoannaAg has successfully established itself as a leader in the market and it is time to scale the business,” Delta Ag managing director Gerard Hines says.
“We’re delighted to have the right partners on board who will help drive our vision to bring powerful and cost-effective solutions to Australian farmers.”
With an initial focus on irrigated cotton, GoannaAg offer end-to-end sensor solutions that drive profitability, increase on-farm efficiency and help mitigate risk.
With a strong focus on optimising water management, the integration of in-field sensors into the powerful GoSat analytics platform allows growers to better measure and manage every drop of precious water.
Using this approach, growers can expect significantly increased water use efficiency, and create a more profitable and sustainable business.
GrainCorp reportedly sees their investment as a critical piece in solving the challenges of connectivity in rural Australia
“We were also attracted by Goanna’s approach of exploring novel solutions to help our grower clients drive profit and reduce risk and inefficiencies,” GrainCorp chief development officer Marcus Kennedy says.
MHPF director Richard Taylor says its investment was driven by the belief that affordable sensors and connectivity will help unlock substantial on-farm potential.
“Having reliable insights from farm specific data, at a price well below what’s currently available, has enormous value in helping us make everyday management decisions a little bit smarter and quicker,” Taylor says.
Westpac head of agribusiness Steve Hannan says Westpac is proud to support GoannaAg with GrainCorp and MHPF.
“The key to resilience and a stronger future for regional and rural Australia relies on maximising the resources we have and driving innovation across the sector,” Hannan says.
“Collaboration, information sharing and investments such as this are critical to maintaining Australia’s globally competitive edge, and we’re very pleased to be involved in GoannaAg’s exciting journey.”