Agroop

Idea

Introduction

Agroop's main mission is to build an edaphoclimatic machine learning system that works as a support for decision-making and helps farmers pinpoint several agronomic, technical and meteorological indicators that can contribute heavily to cost reduction and to an increase in productivity, by improving operational procedures as well as saving essential resources, like water and energy.

This solution will be built upon two integrated products, both with what we believe is high scalability and internationalization potential: “Agroop Operational” and “Stoock”.

“Agroop Operational” is a multi-device farm management platform that allows users to calculate intuitively and assertively, the cost of production allowing detailed and decoded analysis.

“Stoock” is an off-the-shelf multi sensor which replaces the traditional weather station and allows its users to monitor and optimize the water needs of crops, minimizing water waste.

Intended impact

According to UNFPA (United Nation Population Fund) in 2050 the world population will reach 9 billion, therefore an increase of food requirements of 70% is expected in the next 35 years. This means the farming sector will be under a lot of pressure to provide enough food for such a large population. Additionally according to the UNFAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) global warming will have a huge impact on the water resources available for food production, making water an ever more precious resource.

Bearing in mind the macro factors mentioned above, farming entrepreneurs will inevitably have to increase the quality and quantity of their production while at the same time reducing the demands on the usage of water and energy resources. In that regard, we believe technology will play a fundamental role by providing solutions to these issues. And that is what Agroop sets out to do.

With the Agroop system in place a farmer will be able, on one hand, to find out where he can reduce production costs and increase profitability and on the other hand reduce significantly the costs associated with irrigation (water and energy). According to data gathered a 15% reduction in the costs of production related to energy can be attained, even reaching 25% with certain crops.

Both products, due to Agroop’s business model, should be accessible to a large number of small and medium farmers (70% of all farms in Europe) and because of this, we aim to contribute to the democratization of technology in the agricultural sector and help those farmers compete at a global level, with bigger and economically more powerful farms.

Substantial accomplishments to date

Agroop, thanks to its innovative potential, has been systematically selected as finalist in some of the most relevant entrepreneurship prizes.

We highlight our third place in the EDP Innovation Award 2015, which has assured us the support and participation in the entrepeurnship ecossystem of one of the biggest nacional companies: EDP (www.edpstarter.com).

Nonetheless, our greatest achievement to date was when we got our first paying costumer on the 27th of January 2016.

Our amazing team is also a huge achievement, since it is comprised of very driven people, with great technical and human capabilities.

Monetisation strategy

“Agroop Operational” will be sold under a Software as a Service (SaaS) model with an average monthly fee of 35.65€ (excl. VAT), composed of 4 plans:

“Stoock” will be sold at 1.400€ + VAT and will functionally complement “Agroop Operational” while contributing to the increase of the average price point. That occurs because only the Premium Plan will allow the integration with “Stoock” sensors.

Use of proceeds

Since the beginning of this year, Agroop Operational is developed, deployed and already has paying customers. The proceeds of the campaign will be used on the commercialization of this product in the Portuguese market and to develop Stoock.

We will also continue to develop Agroop Operational with interfaces for technicians and agronomists who advise and monitor farmers, to centralize their costumers’ and associates’ data. We will also continue to research and look for leads in our target markets, where we currently have partners: Brazil, Ireland, Norway and Sweden. We are translating our platform to various languages and establishing contacts and relationships with agricultural stakeholders in each country.

2016 will be the year of the consolidation of our product, commercial processes and the preparation for international expansion.

In 2017, after field tests and validation, we will produce Stoock and begin the international launch process of the two products in the target markets.