Yara Growth Ventures to invests in a startup that makes hardware kits to retrofit existing tractors for autonomous operations

Yara Growth Ventures to invests in a startup that makes hardware kits to retrofit existing tractors for autonomous operations

(PRESS RELEASE) OSLO, 18-Aug-2022 — /EuropaWire/ — Yara International ASA, a global firm specializing in agricultural products and environmental protection agents and a leading global ammonia player, has announced that its Yara Growth Ventures will invest in a startup that makes hardware kits and software solutions for retrofitting existing tractors for autonomous operations. The transaction expands the company’s portfolio into the key areas of farming equipment and autonomy in agriculture.

Yara Growth Ventures invests in Sabanto Ag, which is enabling autonomy in agriculture with cutting-edge technology at an affordable price to farmers. Founded by Craig Rupp in 2018, Sabanto Ag is bringing to market hardware kits to retrofit existing tractors for autonomous operations. This offering is complemented with a unique software for operations planning and a farming-as-a-service business model.

“Getting to know Sabanto Ag, what impressed us most is their high-caliber team and how they were able to adapt their technology to various tractor makes and farming operations with unparalleled speed and capital efficiency.” says Björn Heinz of the Yara Growth Ventures team and further comments “Going forward we are excited to see Sabanto Ag alleviating key concerns in modern agriculture: high equipment cost and labor shortage.”

Sabanto Ag follows a technology approach open to machinery of all manufacturers and thereby addresses a wide base of both, existing and new equipment. This is especially attractive for operating smaller, lightweight tractors in swarms which not only reduces capital expenditure but also significantly reduces soil compaction.

“We started Sabanto with our sights set on fixing the lack of labor and resetting the out-of-control capital expenses in agricultural machinery. We see a future of smarter, smaller, lighter, less expensive, and more sustainable swarms of autonomous equipment, substituting horsepower and weight for time,” said Craig Rupp, founder and CEO of Sabanto. “We’ve assembled a team of actual ag-experienced engineers and scientists, working alongside actual farmers, proving this isn’t a just a thought exercise.”

This Series A funding round was led by Fulcrum Global Capital with further contributions from Cavallo Ventures, DCVC Bio, Hico Capital, Johnsonville Holdings, and Trimble.

About Sabanto Ag

Headquartered in Chicago, Sabanto’s mission is to accelerate autonomy in agricultural machinery to solve two primary problems: (i) the increasingly acute scarcity of labor in rural areas and (ii) ever-increasing capital expenses for modern ag machinery. Sabanto’s core competency revolves around low-cost retrofits of existing agriculture machinery regardless of make or model, along with the development of necessary supporting software to maximize the utility of autonomous technology, thereby increasing producer ROI.  Learn more at https://sabantoag.com

About Yara Growth Ventures

Yara Growth Ventures is the venture investment team within Yara International ASA investing in disruptive startups in the agri-food industry globally in order to advance the mission of responsibly feeding the world and protecting the planet. Learn more at www.yaragrowthventures.com

Media contacts:

Brede Hertzenberg
Head of Communications
brede.hertzenberg@yara.com
kristin.nordal@yara.com

Kristin Nordal
Vice President Corporate Communications
+47 90 01 55 50
kristin.nordal@yara.com

SOURCE: Yara International ASA