Ecoation Innovative Solutions Inc. announced today the completion of a successful financing round, which closed in December 2018.
The Seed financing raised $5.4 Million and was significantly oversubscribed. Investors from North America and the European Union participated in the round, including members of the Creative Destruction Lab and their associated ventures. The company was operating in stealth mode for the past two years, perfecting the automated row-shifting robot and patented sensing technology that can detect crop stress before symptoms become visible to the naked eyes or cameras. Ecoation further developed an AI-based management platform that provides yield forecasting, climatic and environmental information, crop work quality assessment, along with task and personnel management features. In addition to detecting and reporting issues, through partnerships with international biological control agent providers, the company will also be offering automated treatment solutions. “The “Find & Fix” approach with integrated pest management as a service, will change the way we produce and protect our food” said Ecoation CEO, Dr. Saber Miresmailli. “
"We use technology to provide greater operational visibility, empowering greenhouse growers and help owners automate their decisions. There is also a mechanism to measure and verify the impact of those decisions. We combine Artificial Intelligence (AI) with Intelligence Augmentation (IA) to keep the human in the loop as the knowledge provider, while focussing on plant-generated data as the most reliable source of information” he added.
Through partnerships with prominent crop consulting institutions, the company has developed a patented knowledge management and digitization platform, enabling crop experts to provide their consulting services remotely whilst interacting with the crops via Ecoation robots. This capability will soon be showcased with partners in Europe.
The financing was led by Dr. Barney Pell (former manager at the Intelligent Systems Division at NASA, co-founder of Powerset & Moon Express, associate founder of Singularity University) and Dr. Chris Bissonnette (Managing partner of Pallasite Ventures, neuroscientist, day trader, entrepreneur), and was followed by several entrepreneurs and investors who built multiple successful ventures in information technology, robotics, artificial intelligence, banking, and agriculture.
Dr. Bissonnette explained why he supported the company: “Ecoation has developed technology that will fundamentally transform the horticulture industry and that is already delivering tremendous value to their customers around the world. The Ecoation robotics and AI systems that Saber, Maryam and their team have built will greatly increase global food production and work to eliminate the waste and spoilage that occur throughout the industry's supply chain while ensuring that all crops delivered to customers are of the highest level of quality. It is exciting to have an opportunity to support a company with such revolutionary technology and a world-changing vision, and I’m looking forward to helping the company as they grow to meet industry demands over the coming years.”. Funds will be used to launch commercial sales of products and services in North America and Europe with future plans to expand to Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and Australia.
Ecoation Innovative Solutions Inc.
Ecoation is a privately held AgTech company built on more than 15 years of research and development. Founded by an immigrant couple in 2010, the family business has attracted world-class investors, advisors, and employees from all over the world throughout the years. Ecoation is now growing into a powerhouse of talent and passion for making a positive change in the world. At Ecoation, we received several awards and recognitions, nationally and internationally, including the 2018 GreenTech Innovation Award in the Netherlands, 2017 First Prize of the New Venture BC Competition, 2016 NVCC Award of Innovation Excellence and 2015 IAFBC Award of Innovation Excellence in Agriculture. Our proprietary and patented technology enables us to non-invasively measure and assess plant defensive chemistry, detecting minute changes in plant health before symptoms become visible.
In the past five years, Ecoation has participated in international projects funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates’ Foundation and the United Nations’ CTCN. Ecoation has also been actively involved in municipal, provincial and international food-related politics as an advisor to the Minister of Agriculture in BC, a member of the Vancouver Food Policy Council and a member of the UN High Forum to make the United Nations’ SDG a reality. Ecoation is a plant and grower centric platform that merges deep biology, automation, sensing, artificial intelligence, intelligence augmentation, and robotics to change the way we produce and protect our food.