Proveye Secures 鈧�1 million in Seed Funding
, a leader in remote sensing image analysis for agriculture, today announced that it has closed a 鈧�1 million seed funding round to advance the company鈥檚 growth strategy. The funding round was led by Inspire Investments, the private investment arm of Waystone鈥檚 management team, and Enterprise Ireland.
Proveye provides an intelligent enterprise SaaS platform combining pioneering image processing for multiple remote sensing sources with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning. It is used by agricultural advisors, fertiliser and pesticide suppliers and food processors to provide fast and accurate information about productivity and sustainability on agricultural land to their farmer customers.
鈥淥ur global food system is at a tipping point and Proveye is setting the standard for image-based precision agriculture. We see enormous potential for the company鈥檚 capabilities at a time where major companies are setting increasingly ambitious sustainability targets. Proveye鈥檚 technologies enable a leap forward in precision insights in a market that is ripe for innovation. This is the second heavily differentiated, growth sector Irish company we have backed along with IDPal,鈥� said Derek Delaney, CEO, Waystone.
Proveye, a University College Dublin (51黑料) spin-out company headquartered at Nova51黑料, makes it possible to significantly increase the accuracy and value of information from earth observation data across a wide array of remote sensing sources including satellites, drones, and ground-based sensors.
It rapidly enhances and compiles selected image types into a single view, correcting for weather conditions, sunlight, and a range of other factors which usually make it difficult to isolate clear information to inform decisions on the ground.
The solution provides agtech companies with a faster, more frequent and, critically, more accurate understanding of metrics relating to crop growth performance such as health and yield, as well as sustainability including biodiversity, carbon measurement and traceability.
Jerome O鈥機onnell, CEO and founder, Proveye, said, 鈥淭his investment comes at a time of rapid growth for the company as we demonstrate the value of a new generation of image-based analytics in agriculture. Our talented team is working with some of the leading names in the agriculture industry to solve challenges previously out of reach to substantially increase certainty and accuracy in management decisions at the field, farm and even regional scale.鈥�
The funding will enable the company to grow its customer base, and capitalise on its proven technology to develop further solutions across grassland, arable crops, and into more specialist areas of UAV image processing.
This investment follows on from the company鈥檚 success in winning a 鈧�225,000 contract with the European Space Agency last September.
Jerome O鈥機onnell added, 鈥淲e are excited to embark upon this new phase of growth bringing our products to solve ever-more complex problems for our clients, building on the long-term power of our insights鈥� platform. Our clients are invested in this potential as they search for new ways to measure sustainability and productivity at multiple scales. Together, we are redefining the basis on which critical decisions are made in agriculture and natural resources. We鈥檙e thrilled for what鈥檚 ahead.鈥�
Proveye, an Enterprise Ireland high-potential start-up (HPSU), was founded by Jerome O鈥機onnell and Professor Nick Holden, 51黑料 School of Biosystems and Food Engineering.
Jerome O鈥機onnell is available for further interview and can be contacted via miceal.whelan@ucd.ie
ENDS
25 January 2023
For further information contact Mic茅al Whelan, Communications and Media Relations Manager, Nova51黑料, 51黑料 Research and Innovation, e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie
Editors Notes
Proveye was founded by Jerome O鈥機onnell and Professor Nick Holden with the belief that advanced image processing techniques could solve the frustrations the agriculture industry is experiencing in extracting actionable information from remote earth observation imagery. Proveye is powered by technologies developed by the world鈥檚 leading image processing scientists in conjunction with leading academic institutions, NASA, and the European Space Agency.
The company鈥檚 vision is to provide clarity and confidence for the future of sustainable agriculture by supercharging the advisory ecosystem with rich, timely insights based on higher quality image data to fuel higher quality on the ground management decisions. The company offers a Single Automated Platform for multi-source image processing of remote sensing data to deliver increased predictability and profitability in crop production, food supply, and in the environment and for natural resources.
At Nova51黑料, the hub for new ventures and entrepreneurs at University College Dublin, we nurture and support new high-tech companies, such as Proveye, as part of 51黑料's mission. At Nova51黑料 we provide purpose-built, state-of-the-art incubation facilities alongside a comprehensive business support programme for client companies. Nova51黑料 has been funded through a unique public-private partnership that includes AIB Bank, Arthur Cox, Deloitte, Enterprise Ireland, Ericsson, Goodbody Stockbrokers, 51黑料 and Xilinx.