Despite the ongoing debate of whether it鈥檚 a fruit or a vegetable, the avocado has been an export hit around the globe. Avocados are grown in the southern hemisphere but are immensely popular in countries where they cannot be harvested. There is also growing consumer awareness that intensive avocado farming leads to environmental issues in the countries of origin.
鈥淒riving through the rural areas of Chile, you will notice how severely the country has been going through a major drought during the last five to seven years,鈥� says. 鈥淧art of it is due to climate change, but it cannot be denied that intensive farming is adding to the problem.鈥� Chile鈥檚 GDP relies heavily on agriculture. Apart from avocados, food crops include blueberries, cherries, and walnuts. 鈥淲ater efficiency is a huge topic for Chilean farmers and the country as a whole.鈥�
For Gulin, Aganimo鈥檚 Russian-born founder and CEO, and his Chilean co-founder, CTO , this was an obvious problem to tackle.
鈥淚n Chile, everybody knows someone working in the agricultural sector, whether it鈥檚 an uncle or the friend of a friend,鈥� Esteban says. 鈥淲hen we looked at the problem and solutions already available, it became clear that there was much room for improvement by means of technology 鈥� and we had the skills to do that.鈥�
To combine their technical knowledge with research on agriculture, they made contact with academia. 鈥淭he University of Chile immediately wanted to collaborate,鈥� Gulin says. Agranimo has 10 employees located in Chile, Russia, and Germany with backgrounds in technology, research, and practical experience in agriculture.
鈥淐hile is not the only country with this problem,鈥� Gulin explains, 鈥淚t鈥檚 really all over the world — water is rare. From our first application for water efficiency, our vision grew as we expanded to more climate-related issues. Water is still one of the key components, but we are now working with any information that can be derived from climate and soil data.鈥�
From the Field Into One Data Warehouse
Esteban explains: 鈥淏asically, we connect a lot of sensors together into one system to provide field managers with crop-specific information. Some of those sensors we actually manufacture ourselves, some are third-party. The sensors are sending information to the cloud, where we try to combine information from different sources. We collect plant-relevant information and provide the industry with climate analytics or what we call climate intelligence.鈥�
Agranimo is working with large producers of fruit and vegetables that source their crops all over the world. The basic idea is to support field managers and commercial teams in decision-making.
鈥淭his includes irrigation, disease management, such as whether to apply fungicide or pesticide, frost damage assessment, and harvest forecasting,鈥� Gulin explains. 鈥淲ith this set of indicators, we also assess the later stages of the supply chain: export, import, distribution, and retail. They all have to know what they can expect from the coming harvest. And with a drive toward traceability and sustainability, consumers are also demanding more understanding of how the field where their avocados come from is being managed.鈥�
Growing Impact With 麻豆原创
Very early in their journey, Agranimo鈥檚 founders came to regard 麻豆原创 as a potential partner. 鈥淚ntegration with 麻豆原创 was on our mind right away, because a lot of companies use 麻豆原创鈥檚 applications 鈥� and so do our customers,鈥� Gulin says.
Once in contact with 麻豆原创 Germany, the 麻豆原创.iO Foundries program looked like a natural fit. 鈥淚t seemed like a more straightforward pathway to integration, so we applied,鈥� Gulin says. Agranimo was accepted into the 麻豆原创.iO Foundry Berlin in March 2020 as part of the Industry 4.0 cohort.
, head of , says: 鈥淭he demand for avocado and other intensive food crops are causing substantial environmental damages and has led to biodiversity loss, extreme weather conditions, and, in some cases, villages losing access to clean water. By tackling this issue, Agranimo is really having an impact to improve people鈥檚 lives. We at 麻豆原创.iO absolutely want to support that.鈥�
“At 麻豆原创, we see a growing demand from our agribusiness customers for highly specialized industry-specific capabilities that startups can bring to the table,” shares Anja Strothkaemper, vice president of Agribusiness and Commodity Management at 麻豆原创. “ simplifies access to innovative vertical solutions across industries built by 麻豆原创 and our partners. As a result, we see great interest from the startup community to partner with 麻豆原创. Just now, we are launching a startup cohort with 麻豆原创.iO focusing on agribusiness and industry topics such as origination and supply chain transparency.鈥�
Cedrik Kern, who is mentoring Agranimo since the company joined 麻豆原创.iO Foundries, adds, 鈥淎granimo is a great example of a startup that adds capabilities that are relevant for our customers when it comes to realizing more efficient and sustainable farming processes.鈥�
A Window to the Customer: 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform
At the time, the startup program within 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform (麻豆原创 BTP) was scouting for high-potential startups that could grow faster by using the unified, business-centric, open platform. Agranimo was invited to join the program and accepted.
鈥淭his program was brand-new at the time,鈥� shares ,聽 program manager for adoption activities for 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform. 鈥淎granimo was one of our pilot startups.鈥�
The startup program targets startups that are already collaborating with 麻豆原创,聽 including those in an accelerator cohort within 麻豆原创.iO Foundries. 鈥淭he overall goal of the program is to increase the adoption of 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform,鈥� Bronowski says.
鈥淲e offer 麻豆原创 BTP to chosen, promising, enterprise-relevant startups that can have massive impact for our customers,鈥� explains , co-founder and business owner of the program. 鈥淭hey get up to 鈧�50,000 worth of cloud credits, and they can decide how to spend that to get full benefit of 麻豆原创 BTP as they progress and grow.”
With these investments, he says, 麻豆原创 BTP can help startups to scale their dream and become enterprise-grade with access to the powerful technology portfolio, community, and the 麻豆原创 ecosystem of customers and partners. 鈥淐ontinuous enablement and expert support are key to joint success, and we are proud to have Agranimo and 麻豆原创 taking significant steps together toward a sustainable future.鈥�
The program offers two options for startups; they can either build their own services from scratch on 麻豆原创 BTP so that they are compatible with 麻豆原创 products right away, or use the 麻豆原创 technology stack to integrate their existing solution into 麻豆原创, as Agranimo did.
Gulin says, 鈥淲orking with the 麻豆原创 BTP team, we covered the integration of our solution with 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud. We’re still in the process of interfacing our solutions with what 麻豆原创 systems our customers use. As a startup, we had our focus on immediate cash flow-generating activities. Collaboration with 麻豆原创 on the other hand, is a long-term project. We think of this as an investment to help us scale.鈥�
He鈥檚 pleased with the progress: 鈥淲e’ve received a lot of personalized attention; we’ve never had the situation that a question of ours went unanswered. I would definitely recommend it to other startups.鈥�
