The Greeneye company has developed an AI-based technology that enables the selective spraying of pesticides in agricultural fields. Green-Eye's technology results in a reduction of up to 90% in the scope of pesticide use and dramatically reduces environmental pollution, health damage and farmers' costs. The world's leading manufacturer of pesticides, the Swiss Syngenta, invested in the company
The Israeli company Greeneye announced today the completion of a $7 million seed round led by the JVP Fund. The strategic investor Syngenta Venture, the investment arm of the global seed and pesticide production giant from Switzerland Syngenta, the 2b-angels group and others also participated in the fundraising.
The recruitment will be used to increase research and development efforts, hiring employees, upgrading the sales system and creating additional strategic collaborations with farmers and multinational corporations beyond those that currently exist.
The technology that Green-Eye has developed makes it possible to selectively, accurately and in real time spray the weeds in the field and dramatically reduce the use of pesticides in agriculture, using cameras and sensors installed on the arms of the sprayer. The technology is based on artificial intelligence and machine learning and it identifies and sprays only the harmful weeds. The technological uniqueness of the system developed by Green-Eye is the ability to easily interface with existing agricultural sprayers and turn them into smart sprayers when installing the product. In addition, the system collects and analyzes images from the field to allow farmers to get an up-to-date and reliable picture of the crops. The system knows how to operate at all hours of the day and in any weather. These days the system is in advanced testing stages in the company's development field in the Galilee.
Grain-Eye was founded in 2017 by three young entrepreneurs who served together in the IDF in the Sheldag unit, and bring with them expertise that combines computer science and plant science; Nadav Bucher, CEO of the company, entrepreneur and leader of the company's business, lives in Canada, Yitzhak Hayit, VP of Development, Doctor of Plant Sciences and Molecular Biology, from Tel Aviv University and Alon Klein-Orbach, VP of Technology, Master's degree in Science The computer from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Yitzhak and Alon work in Israel.
Nadav Bucher, founder and CEO of Greeneye, ""We are happy that JVP, one of the leading funds in the world and the agrochemical giant Syngenta, invest in us and believe in us. I am convinced that they will help us in the task of significantly reducing the use of pesticides in agriculture while increasing the harvest and agricultural productivity. The agricultural market is at the threshold of a digital revolution, today, various technologies provide farmers with a wide variety of recommendations, in most cases the farmer has difficulty translating the recommendation into a decision. The system that Green-Eye has developed takes the technology a step further and allows decisions to be made for the farmer in real time, where to spray and where not to spray and allows farmers to save money, increase their profitability and reduce the enormous environmental and health damage caused by the way pesticides are sprayed today."
Arel Margalit, chairman and founder of JVP, "Green-Eye's technology creates a dramatic change in the field of agriculture, it reduces by 90% the polluting and dangerous use of pesticides, it is environmentally friendly and protects our health. Governments, farmers and global markets are working hard to create a world free of toxins and the regulations are already dictating the agenda in this area. The strategic partnership with Syngenta is proof of the trust that the world of agriculture has in Green Eye's technology, and the recognition that the future is already here. CEO Nadav Bucher and the wonderful team he assembled do excellent development work and sound business work in international strategic connections. Within a few years we will see the agricultural world implementing the revolution that Green Eye is developing in the experimental fields in the Galilee today."
"In the future, farmers will be able to spray pesticides accurately and sustainably, unlike the way pesticides are sprayed across the entire field today, indiscriminately. This will enable effective treatment of weeds that have developed resistance to pesticides, reducing environmental pollution and reducing costs for farmers," said Shobang Shankar, co-director of Syngenta's investment arm. "Green-Eye's team has developed an innovative technology that addresses the needs of farmers and can be applied widely commercially in agriculture."
In recent decades, spraying weeds using pesticides is done uniformly over the entire field several times each season, even though the harmful weeds are only found in a small part of the field, most of the pesticides are actually sprayed on the agricultural crops or on bare ground. This spraying method involves high costs of pesticides, causing health damage and environmental pollution of groundwater, soils and the entire ecosystem. Thanks to Green-Eye's AI technology, this method will change from end to end.
"Green Eye is an example of digital, precise agriculture at its best," says Michal Dreiman, a partner in JVP and a board member of Green Eye, "the unique technology that the company has developed makes it possible to increase agricultural yields, save money, reduce the level of pollution and maintain sustainability. This is the model for future agriculture, which is in line with the requirements of global regulation. Only recently did the European Union announce a goal to reduce the use of pesticides by 50% by 2030. We believe that the growing demand in the market to preserve the quality of the environment, together with the regulatory requirements of the countries, generate a significant market potential for Green-Eye."
The pesticide market is estimated at approximately 60 billion dollars and is at a significant growth rate. The dominant player in the pesticide production is Syngenta, whose investment arm is a strategic investor in the company. Green-Eye's selective spraying technology revolution is expected to reduce the global use of pesticides by tens of percent and later expand to selective spraying of additional chemicals in agriculture. Syngenta's investment reflects the confidence the global pesticide giant has in Green-Eye's technology and the understanding that the way farmers spray pesticides is set to change dramatically.
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Syngenta is no longer a Swiss company, they bought them as well as the Israeli land