![]() ![]() Indigo CEO David Perry, who grew up on a farm in Arkansas, told TechCrunch Indigo expects to do $500 million in bookings this year thanks to the early growth of the new product. Now, the company is expanding its suite of digital tools with the launch of Indigo Marketplace, which is essentially eBay for farmers. Indigo initially launched in 2014 to help farmers improve the health and productivity of their crops with microbial products that protect against the environment, disease and pest stress. New investors, who Indigo declined to name, also participated. Existing investors Baillie Gifford, the Alaska Permanent Fund, the Investment Corporation of Dubai and Flagship Pioneering participated in the round. That’s a steep increase from its previously reported value: $1.4 billion with a $156 million Series D last September. The funding values the company at $3.5 billion, according to a source familiar with the deal. “The IPO and capital sources will take care of itself over time.Indigo, the startup bringing algorithms and machine learning to the agricultural industry, has raised a $250 million Series E, bringing its total raised to $650 million. “That’s the big goal for us that we’re focused on,” he said. ![]() But for “right now” the company is focused on growing its businesses and helping improve the planet’s climate, he said. “We’re a good candidate to be a public company,” Hovespian said. While a few tech companies, including marketing software firm Klaviyo in Boston, are planning to go public soon, Indigo Ag will not be among the next wave of startups hitting the stock market. It also included new investors Lingotto Investment Management in London and the State of Michigan Retirement System. The $250 million of new funding came in a deal led by Flagship Pioneering in Cambridge, the original investor in Indigo. The first sale of credits last year covered 22,000 tons of carbon captured in soil and an upcoming sale will include 110,000 tons. ![]() US farmers have added 7 million acres of cropland to Indigo Ag’s carbon credit program so far. It is also expanding sales in Turkey and parts of eastern Europe. Indigo Ag recently got permission to sell its bionematicide treatment in Brazil, which protects soybeans from deadly roundworms known as nematodes. “It’s right around the corner for us,” Hovespian, who took over from prior CEO David Perry three years ago, said. Now the company is approaching profitability and aims to be cash-flow positive by the end of next year, Hovsepian said. The growth comes after Indigo struggled trying to sell grain for farmers and went through a round of layoffs in March. Net revenue increased 40 percent last year compared to 2021 and jumped another 90 percent in the first seven months of 2023, the company said without giving more specific figures. The company has also built a service to help farmers sell carbon credits when they use carbon sequestration techniques like planting cover crops. It’s still in that business today, developing seed and crop treatments to boost yields, resist pests, and improve drought survivability. Indigo Ag was formed in 2013, originally called Symbiota, by Flagship Pioneering and Moderna cofounder Noubar Afeyan and others to take advantage of biotechnology techniques to find naturally occurring microbes that could help farmers. Related : Boston company says agriculture might hold one solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |