Michigan Startup Raises $10 Million To Revolutionize A Multi-Billion-Dollar Industry

FarmLogs, a startup that uses software and data science to improve agriculture, has raised $10 million in a Series B round of financing.

SV Angel and Y Combinator President Sam Altman joined the existing pool of investors, which includes Drive Capital, Huron River Ventures and Hyde Park Venture Partners. Altogether, FarmLogs has now raised $15 million.

"Over 15 percent of the nation's farms now use the product," Jesse Vollmar, co-founder and CEO of FarmLogs, told Benzinga. "This is just one new milestone in the company's hopefully long history."

Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, FarmLogs has come a long way. In January, only five percent of U.S. farms used its software. That number tripled in less than a year.

Related Link: WeSwap Raised $7.5 Million To Reduce Your Currency Exchange Rate

Michigan Startup - With Help From California

Vollmar grew up "in the middle of farm country" in Michigan. He had been working in the tech space for a few years when he saw a need that wasn't being satisfied.

"It became really obvious that farmers were desperate for better technology and yet no one was delivering it to them," Vollmar told Benzinga. "The more we were exposed to that, the more we realized we need to start satisfying some of these problems that farmers were facing using software, data science and technology."

Vollmar said it was clear that large corporations weren't going to do it and that a new company needed to exist. Thus, he took his idea to Y Combinator, moved to Mountain View, California, and worked to perfect his startup.

FarmLogs quickly learned that its customer base is in the Midwest, so Vollmar and his co-founder, Brad Koch, moved the company back to Michigan.

"We've been here ever since," said Vollmar. "The first year of our existence, we were only three people. Then we grew to about eight or so over the next year. Today we're at 22 people with 21 open positions."

Technology At Hand

One of FarmLogs' solutions includes a rainfall precipitation monitor.

"Instead of having to install rain gauges or drive out to the field to go check on it, you can use FarmLogs," said Vollmar. "We use radar to remote sense precipitation accumulation within the boundaries of [a farmer's] field."

As far as the investment is concerned, Vollmar said that FarmLogs is fortunate to have "a ton of momentum" right now.

"We had the opportunity to continue to fuel that growth," he added. "We were able to raise another $10 million. We were able to pick investors that we're really happy to be in business with. We've been very happy with the support that they've added to the business, and they're very happy with how we're using their capital."

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.

Image credit: scott1346, Flickr