Almanac says it is poised to ‘supercharge’ its offerings after acquiring the assets of the defunct agricultural insights platform Gro Intelligence.
Despite raising significant funds of over $125 million to pursue its plan to create the world’s largest agricultural data platform, African start-up Gro Intelligence closed earlier in 2024 owing to financial challenges and strategic missteps.
But Almanac now believes it can pick up where Gro left off. The Vancouver-based farm data analytics and precision agriculture company will integrate Gro’s technology into its platform, saying the move strengthens its AI-driven capabilities, positioning it at the forefront of optimising agricultural data for connected intelligence.
Almanac is the parent company of two agricultural brands and product suites (Semios and Agworld) and already serves over 100 million acres of farmland worldwide. Almanac’s intelligence platform, ‘Alma’, analyses extensive amounts of real-time farm data to predict trends and provide farmers with the foresight needed to make smarter decisions, improve yields, reduce costs, and promote sustainability. It therefore hopes the Gro acquisition will enable it to help farmers around the world operate smarter, more efficient farms.
The addition of Gro Intelligence’s assets, including AI models, complement Almanac’s capabilities and extend Almanac into new areas of the food and agriculture value chain – including agricultural insurance, lending, trading and Consumer Packaged Goods procurement.
Deeper insights to support growers
With the acquisition of Gro’s assets, Almanac’s says these capabilities will enhance its platform, offering deeper insights and predictive analytics to support agriculture professionals worldwide.
Gro’s model took public and proprietary data from a myriad of sources, including satellite imagery, government data, trade organisations, and weather reports, to deliver actionable insights on food production, climate, and crop yields.
It also believes the acquisition bolsters Almanac’s technological edge and reaffirms its dedication to boosting global food security and sustainable farming through advanced, data driven agriculture.
“This acquisition is a quantum leap for Almanac in our mission to revolutionize agricultural practices through advanced technology,” says CEO Sumer Johal. ”By integrating Gro’s robust AI-powered data platform within our own, we are aiming to enhance our ability to deliver actionable insights across the global agricultural sector, driving sustainability and productivity for agriculture professionals everywhere.”
