With more funding, Ricult aims to help poor farmers

[rooster59]

With more funding, Ricult aims to help poor farmers

By The Nation

 

Ricult’s tools analyse satellite imagery and microclimate weather data, allowing farmers to predict crop yields, pest prevention and optimal crop rotation.

 

Agricultural technology start-up Ricult has just raised US$1.85 million (Bt61 million) in its latest seed funding round led by dtac Accelerate, Chanwanich Group, Wavemaker and 500 Tuktuks. 

 

Ricult had previously raised $600,000 in earlier seed funding including a $100,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This brings the company’s total funding to date close to $2.5 million.

 

Founded by MIT alumni, Ricult is a digital platform to increase the efficiency of the agricultural value chain in developing countries, helping lift smallholder farmers out of poverty. The start-up has already launched in Thailand and Pakistan, providing farmers with tools that employ machine learning to analyse satellite imagery and microclimate weather data. The data allows farmers to better predict crop yields, pest prevention, proper fertilisation, key harvesting times and optimal crop rotations.

 

Aukrit Unahalekhaka, co-founder and CEO of Ricult Thailand, said the company is a double-bottom line start-up, “where we don’t only care only about the financial profitability of the company, but also the social impact that we can create for the smallholder farmers and their communities. 

“We want to make sure that our technology can really help make the farmers’ lives better and make the agricultural value chain more efficient,” said Aukrit. Ricult also provides services to agricultural businesses, including input suppliers and food processors. Its solution can help them accurately target their sales and sourcing.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/Startup_and_IT/30349526

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-07-07

[Srikcir]

Sounds like a knock-off of Land Viewer developed by EOS Inc. founded in 2015 by Max Polyakov.

http://geoawesomeness.com/web-tool-will-let-find-analyze-satellite-imagery-10-seconds/

But hey, thanks for the funding.