Agritech fund receives new investment
Bidra Innovation Ventures announced a $200 million commitment by Morocco’s Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) and fertiliser giant OCP Group. This latest round of funding comes one year after Bidra launched a $50 million fund backed by the same investors focused on agriculture. This additional $200 million is on top of the $50 million that’s already funded.
”UM6P recognises the role innovation must play to sustainably solve global challenges,” said Amar Singh, group head of Bidra Innovation Ventures. “We are grateful for UM6P’s visionary leadership and support as we continue to back innovators forging the future via sustainable technologies for Africa and beyond. Having OCP’s support is a tremendous advantage because now we can extend OCP’s regional know-how and distribution capacity to startups that are ready to scale.”
“At Niqo Robotics, we are pioneering a sustainable revolution in agriculture through AI powered agricultural robots. Our proprietary green on green spot spray robots use real time AI assisted computer vision to selectively spray chemicals on plants resulting in up to 60% chemical savings and limiting the environmental impact of excess chemical usage,” said Jaisimha Rao, founder and CEO of Niqo Robotics, a company backed by Bidra’s fund. “With the support of Bidra, UM6P and OCP Group, we continue to develop our robotic technology to benefit farmers in emerging markets that currently rely on outdated methods and manual labour.”
“Bidra shares our belief that soil analysis plays a vital role in the future of green farming,” said Rob Hranac, CEO of Pattern Ag. “We are eager to continue our work, expanding our reach ensuring our technology can benefit rural communities around the world with comprehensive macro and micronutrient analysis.”
Over the past year, Bidra has backed robotics used to reduce chemical volumes (Niqo Robotics), biopesticides for deadly insects in Africa (Agrospheres), soil biology and diagnostics technology to customise fertility recommendations (Pattern Ag), a digital store-front for Kenyan farmers to access crop inputs otherwise difficult to obtain (Apollo Agriculture), as well as electrochemical technology to permanently sequester carbon and produce sulfuric acid by recycling phosphogypsum (Travertine).