eAgronom raises 1m EUR to bring more farmers into digital age

Founded by son of a farmer and an experienced software developer, eAgronom provides farmers with a set of convenient and intuitive digital tools that significantly simplify their daily and seasonal farm management. In October this year, the company raised a seed investment round of EUR 1M total from Black Pearls VC, TMT Investments, Trind Ventures, United Angels VC and others.

What is eAgronom?

eAgronom is a web and mobile platform where farmers can manage and oversee their entire farm, employees and fields in real time. As a planning and management tool for grain farmers eAgronom helps them to achieve significant economic gains and reduce risks by proper planning and task timing in sowing rotational system. Case studies show that eAgronom helps save farmers tens to hundreds of thousands of euros per year. With headquarters in Estonia and over 35 top specialists on board, eAgronom has already rolled out in 9 countries and is used to manage over 700,000 hectares grain land.

The Founders

eAgronom was founded by Robin Saluoks and Stenver Jerkku just 2 years ago. Robin’s first company was started when he was 17 years old. The firm is still active and employs 50 people. Being raised in a family of farmers, it was Robin’s work on the family farm which served as his inspiration for starting eAgronom – and solving the problem of farm management efficiency once and for all. For his work at eAgronom, he received the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2018 in Estonia.
Stenver Jerkku has created the technology of the eAgronom platform and built the roots of engineering team in eAgronom. He is a graduate (MSc in computer science) of the Faculty of Software Engineering at the University of Tartu. Before devoting himself to the eAgronom project, Stenver has gained experience in multiple startup ventures, including the successful startup SaleMove Inc, and was a lecturer at the University of Tartu at the Faculty of Software Engineering in multiple engineering courses.

“With additional funding, we plan to move towards the vision of helping farmers make financially and ecologically smarter decisions by making data about their farming activities accessible and easy to understand” says Stenver Jerkku, COO of eAgronom. “The funds will be used to improve platform’s agronomical and financial analysis modules to help calculate how agronomical decisions affect financial results. The investments will also help scale sales and support teams to bring more farmers into digital age.”

“But it’s about more than funding”. adds Robin Saluoks, CEO of eArgonom. “All the investors in this round have given us valuable knowledge that we will use to grow the business. International VCs, target market investors and builders of successful SaaS start-ups – they all support and help us focus on our long-term strategy. This is crucial for building a company that is going to optimize the entire food industry.”

The investment round

eAgronom raised 1M EUR in seed round that included 4 international VCs, business angels and previous angel investors. Black Pearls VC from Poland, UK based TMT Investments, Trind Ventures VC and United Angels VC from Estonia, Aivar Berzin (Founder of Vestman), Ragnar Sass (Pipedrive co-founder, CEO LIFT99), Andrus Purde (Outfunnel co-founder, Pipedrive CMO , Taxify and Qualitista investor), Martin Tajur (designer at Skype, Pipedrive co-founder), Andres Kull (Ex-VitalFields investor and employee).

“We admire the fresh look of the team at the agricultural market and its needs” says Marcin P. Kowalik, Black Pearls VC Managing Partner. “Farm management software market is growing very dynamically. It is the perfect moment to offer comprehensive and well-designed solutions created by people who know the sector so well.”

“We stay dedicated to highly effective and promising startups of which eAgronom stands out. The agro space is one of the oldest ones, but the methods and tools used by farmers are still very basic and low tech, we liked how eAgronom addresses the problem and makes farming process simple and efficient.“ Alexander Pak, Investment Director of TMT Investments

“At first it seemed puzzling how they have managed to gain their customers trust in such a conservative field, but after visiting the guys in the office I got my answer. The professionalism and will to do something really meaningful really thrives every single one of them and you can sense the passion in the room.” Ivar Siimar, Co-founder of Trind VC

“Agriculture has reached the tipping point where more and more farmers globally are seeing the benefits planning and managing their activities digitally. With their sharp focus on driving farm efficiency, eAgronom is ideally positioned to take advantage of this trend and become the leading company in digital agriculture in Europe. We are proud to have joined the round that will enable the founders to move towards executing their vision.” says Gerri Kodres, Founding Partner of United Angels VC.

“I mean, how many startup teams have their own field? Literally, their own plot of land to gather some grasp of what farming really means? The entire team is utterly passionate about a topic that truly matters, and that’s noteworthy. Plus, they pulled off raising half a million investment from their own users! This should be inspirational to all the founders out there.” Ragnar Sass, Pipedrive Co-Founder, CEO of LIFT99

“In the beginning I had my doubts about investing in another farm management software, but after I called a few of their customers I was convinced – they are making something better than the competitors.” Andres Kull, ex-VitalFields investor and employee. 

eAgronom
eAgronom is a farm management software company that aims to make digital tools accessible for all farmers and help them make better financial and ecological decisions. Founded just 2 years ago in Estonia, eAgronom captured 70% of local market in 6 months and has since then expanded to 9 countries and raised 2M EUR. Over 35 top specialists from companies like Stripe, Heap Analytics, Nortal, SaleMove, TransferWise and ZeroTurnaround have joined their forces to have a real impact on the food industry and the World.

Black Pearls VC
Black Pearls VC is a venture capital firm that manages early-stage funds. The fund helps the best entrepreneurs and scientists in building companies with a global reach, supporting the development of their innovative projects in the field of deep tech and enterprise software. Since 2016, Black Pearls VC is a member of the Invest Europe organization and participates in the Kauffman Fellows educational program for VC managers. Investments in 2018: Insly, Deep.BI, eAgronom. blackpearls.vc

United Angels VC
United Angels VC is an early stage venture capital fund based in Estonia. The fund mostly focuses on B2B, SaaS and foodtech solutions. The fund and its partners’ portfolio include some of the fastest growing companies originating from Northern-Europe, such as Taxify, Monese, and Veriff. The fund’s’ foodtech/agritech portfolio includes Fooddocs, Click & Grow, Epic Foods and eAgronom. The fund’s partners have earlier invested to Vitalfields, acquired by Climate Corporation in 2015. unitedangels.vc

Trind Ventures
Trind Ventures is an early-stage VC firm that invests in European technology start-ups with primary focus on Baltics and Finland. It prefers all things internet. Its average starting investment in portfolio company is EUR0,2m and it invests up to EUR 3m in a single company. trind.vc

TMT Investments PLC
TMT Investments PLC invests in high-growth technology companies across a number of core specialist sectors and has a significant number of Silicon Valley investments in its portfolio. Founded in 2010, TMT has invested in over 40 companies to date and has latest announced net assets of US$82m. The Company’s objective is to generate an attractive rate of return for shareholders, predominantly through capital appreciation. The company is traded on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. tmtinvestments.com