Canadian AgTech startup Croptimistic lands $5.2M in Series A funding to unlock soil potential using SWAT (Soil, water, and topography) MAPS

Croptimistic Technology, a Saskatchewan, Canada-based AgTech startup announced today it has closed $3.5M in Series A investment from Forage Capital Partners (Forage) to complement an additional $1.7M in funding from the founders and institutional debt.

Croptimistic is the company behind SWAT (Soil, water, and topography) MAPS, the number one variable-rate fertilizer and seed map. Croptimistic will use the fresh capital injection to accelerate the growth of its SWAT MAPS technology.

The SWAT technology ecosystem provides farmers and partners with high-resolution soil foundation maps to execute variable rate fertilizer, seed, soil amendment, herbicide, and precision water management. Since the first year of operations in 2018, Croptimistic has grown to 18 staff across Canada, the USA, and South Africa. It has nearly 100 partners spanning 4 countries and $2M in revenue in 2020.

Founded in 2003 by Cory Willness, Shannon Willness, and Derek Massey, Croptimistic has built a vast partner network with SWAT MAPS, a turn-key variable rate process that prioritizes Soil, Water, And Topography (SWAT) factors of fields for the creation of management zones.

Its technology includes SWAT Records (software and apps), SWAT BOX (autonomous soil mapping system), SWAT CAM (machine learning sprayer cameras), and SWAT WATER (soil moisture maps). The value proposition for their technology is strong, with annual retention rates above 95% on SWAT Mapped acres along with documented environmental and climate change improvements. Key APIs include Climate Fieldview and John Deere.

“We are excited to take the next step of our journey with the team at Forage. Jim Taylor and Steven Leakos have already made strides due to their extensive expertise in the Agtech space. We want to acknowledge our incredible team based in 3 countries who have worked tirelessly to get us here and our COO, Rob Harris, who was instrumental in executing this funding.” CTO and co-founder Derek Massey adds,“ Croptimistic CEO and co-founder Cory Willness said.

Cory also added that the new funding proceeds will be used to add developers and professional staff to our Kelowna, BC hub to build out the software and hardware solutions in order to meet the high growth demands from the millions of acres in our system.

Steven Leakos of Forage says, “We are proud to partner with the team at Croptimistic, a world leader in variable-rate farming applications. Croptimistic’s SWAT MAPS, software, world-class hardware, and current IP portfolio together with their strong agronomic background provides farmers with an excellent return on investment and significantly reduces the overall environmental footprint to their farming operation.”