Presenting Companies
The 12 Israeli agrifood tech companies presenting at AgriVest 2019 were selected from more than 60 applicants by an independent committee headed by Tamar Weiss (Start-Up Nation Central). Committee members: Eyal Emmanuel, PhD (Evogene), Moran Buganim Gold (Israel New Tech), Limor Ganot (Gefen Capital), and Orly Savion, PhD (Yeda R&D).
The winning company receiveS $7,000 in services from Ernst & Young Israel.
eggXYt
WINNER, AGRIVEST 2019 BEST ISRAELI COMPANY
Allows ethically sourced male chick culling-free eggs to reach the market, answering the demands of conscious egg consumers
Categories: biotechnology, livestock, precision ag/IoT, robotics and equipment
The problem: Each year the layer chicken industry sends 14 billion fertile eggs to hatcheries, where they are incubated for 3 weeks. Only after they are hatched are they manually identified as male or female by human chicken sexers. 50% of the eggs — the male chicks — which are useless for both poultry and layer industries — are immediately killed. This is a massive financial and ethical challenge.
Identifying the male eggs before they’re incubated saves over $1 billion dollars a year in unnecessary incubation and manual sex identification costs, as well as in additional revenue from the sales of un-incubated male eggs in the global market. It prevents the killing of 7 billion male chicks each year and addresses a $200 billion market of premium, ethically sourced, chick-killing-free eggs.
The product: eggXYt’s mission is to enable a sustainable future in the livestock industry. eggXYt’s CRISPR-based technology allows 100% accurate, noninvasive (eggs are scanned through the shell), pre-incubation sex detection in chicken eggs, saving 7 billion male chicks from being unnecessarily hatched and killed each year, saving the industry billions of dollars, and adding 7 billion eggs to the global egg supply. eggXYt allows ethically sourced male-chick-culling-free eggs to reach the market, answering the demands of conscious egg consumers.
Current development status: field test(s)/trial(s).
Yehuda Elram, Co-Founder and CEO: A father of five children and a lawyer by training. As a partner in a law firm, Yehuda had worked with many entrepreneurs in biotech, high-tech, real estate, and social enterprises. An experienced entrepreneur in both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, and a partner at Aroma, Israel's largest coffee chain, Yehuda has more than 20 years of experience commercializing products and services. Yehuda also practices hydrotherapy.
Prof. Dani Offen, Co-Founder, Inventor and CSO: Head of the Neuroscience Laboratory, Felsenstein Medical Research Center, Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Sagol School of Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University. Dani is the co-author of over 200 publications and the co-inventor of over 20 patents. He is also the scientific co-founder of Nasdaq-traded biotech company BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics.
Seeking: collaboration, partnership, distributor, investment.
Funding and use of funds: Looking for strategic investors and partners to join us on our mission to enable a sustainable future in the livestock industry as we commercialize our pipeline of products.
Agrint Sensing Solutions
Developed IoTree technology, a durable, energy-efficient sensor that is highly sensitive to the slightest movement of larvae attacks to trees at their early stages
The problem: Agrint’s technology is designed to save the trees, reduce the use of pesticides to a minimum, and save the environment. The sensor’s ability to detect the larvae at their early stage of development means the tree can be saved and pesticides are only applied to infested trees. The healthy trees are untouched.
The product: The company has adapted its sensor to detect the red palm weevil larvae, an insect causing catastrophic damage to palm trees worldwide. The ability to detect the weevil at a larval stage means the tree can be saved and pesticides are only applied to infested trees.
Highly sensitive seismic sensor equipped by sophisticated algorithms for detection of the larvae in their early stage of development, by detecting the silently burrowing activity of larvae inside the tree, with a very high probability of detection (95%) and very low false alarm rate achieved by eliminating the environment noises (rain, wind, traffic).
Large-scale deployments are made possible using Agrint's BLE IoT Tmesh network, which provides long-range coverage over the challenging conditions of dense plantation.
Current development status: commercialization/revenue.
Yehonatan Ben Hamozeg, Co-founder & CEO: Retired colonel in IDF 8200 Unit and 13 years as deputy CEO at Magal in the security market; 3 registered patents.
Seeking: collaboration, distributor, investment.
Funding and use of funds: $2 million for developing an international sales and distribution marketing network for the existing sensor; additional $3 million for expanding the sensor for additional stem/tree borers and developing markets for these products.
Armenta
Dedicated to developing novel non-antibiotic-based solutions designed to transform the standard care of dairy cattle, with a focus on mastitis
The problem: Mastitis, a dairy cattle disease usually treated with antibiotics, is the most significant economic burden on the dairy farm, reducing milk yield and milk quality and increasing culling rates. Annual losses from mastitis in the United States and the EU alone reach $4.4 billion (~$300 loss per case).
The product: Armenta developed the first non-antibiotic, noninvasive treatment using acoustic pulse therapy (APT). APT is a proprietary technology specifically adapted from human health care to be used in dairy farms. Biological responses to APT include, among others, angiogenesis, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, dispersion of pain mediator (substance P), and nerve regeneration.
Current development status: pre-commercialization; currently performing field tests
Gil Hakim, Chief Executive Officer: Over 20 years of experience in executive positions in multinational companies in medtech, biotech, and pharma industry. Track record of fund-raising from the private and public sector total >$150 million. Successful in taking a company from seed stage to full-blast operations. Extensive business development experience with licensing deals worth over >$200 million.
Seeking: collaboration, partnership, distributor, investment.
Funding and use of funds: $4 million–$6 million for scale-up manufacturing, sales and marketing efforts, 2nd generation products.
Beewise
Offering a newly designed autonomous beehive that allows bees to live, thrive, and pollinate successfully
Categories: artificial intelligence, precision ag/IoT, robotics and equipment
The problem: Bees are a major player in world nutrition, being the most effective pollinator on the planet (executing 90% of pollination). Furthermore, bee pollination is essential for 70 of the 100 most-consumed crops worldwide. Without bees, there would be no honey, almonds, sunflowers, canola, apples, avocados, and many more common crops.
Unfortunately, bees are dying at an increasingly alarming rate. Ten years ago, the annual mortality rate was between 10% and 15%. Today, it is between 25% and 40%! These mortality rates impact pollination of essential crops and honey yield.
The product: Our solution is based on artificial intelligence (AI) and modern robotics. These technologies enable complete streamlining of beekeeping, allowing bees to effectively produce honey and pollinate essential crops. The innovation in our system stems from the fact that we have completely redesigned the (150 year old!) existing beehives.
Our autonomous beehive addresses current challenges in an optimal manner: AI allows our system to learn and improve by an ongoing feedback-loop (reinforcement learning) that improves as the portfolio grows. Our autonomous beehive allows for a more effective treatment for bee mortality and to significantly increase honey and pollination yields.
Current development status: field test(s)/trial(s).
Saar Safra, Co-Founder & CEO: Seasoned entrepreneur with extensive experience in starting new companies and bringing them to fruition.
Seeking: collaboration, partnership, investment
Funding and use of funds: $1.6 million to apply toward five existing customers (Yad Mordechai, Spektor, Dan, etc.) who are waiting for us to deploy our solution at their apiaries and to prepare our product and company for commercialization (including manufacturing of the devices).
ClariFruit
Leading software provider of next-generation, automatic Quality Control as a Service (QCaaS) and data analytics solutions for the fresh fruit and veg industry
Categories: artificial intelligence, precision ag/IoT
The problem: We target the entire fresh produce supply chain from the growers to the consumers. The ability to get automatic, cost-effective, and real-time quality analysis enables supply-chain participants to make sound decisions and save the money associated with labor-intensive, destructive practices used today, taking the guesswork out of the decision-making process.
None of the QC software platforms or hardware providers today focus on the fresh produce vertical and therefore provide only point-solution that lack crucial insights about the produce’s external characteristics.
The product: We strive to create a global quality standard for the fresh produce industry by (a) transforming the entire supply chain (grower > wholesaler > retailer > consumer) from offline onto the cloud; (b) collecting, tracking, and analyzing data automatically (rather than manually as it is done today) to derive insights that would improve produce quality, optimize processes, and promote collaboration; (c) enhancing revenue opportunities to supply-chain participants.
Current development status: launched first product(s).
Avi Schwartzer, CEO: Former Senior R&D manager HP, SAP.
Seeking: collaboration, partnership, investment.
Funding and use of funds: $4 million to accelerate R&D and start sales efforts in the United States and EU.
Growee
Providing data-driven solutions for the cannabis ecosystem
Categories: artificial intelligence, precision ag/IoT
The problem: Growers today have trouble managing their indoor grow rooms.
Growers report losses of over $200,000 overnight and even going out of business because of the old manual equipment available in the market. Growers are left in the "dark" once they leave the grow room, with no way of knowing about critical malfunctions in their indoor farm, a problem that can be solved by sensing 24/7. Growers waste $44 billion every year in direct labor on feeding the plants manually, a waste that can be solved with autonomous technology.
The product: The Company's core product is a smart automated IoT device that monitors the plant’s environment and medium 24/7. The core product also includes a smart dosing system that auto-injects nutrients and pH solution according to sophisticated control algorithms and real-time data. The data collected from millions of growers will reveal the optimal grow protocols for each strain, allowing Growee to create the first true database of cannabis grow protocols.
For the cannabis producers, Growee offers an automated IoT & data analytics device that turns any grow room into a smart grow room. For fertilizer companies and service providers, Growee offers deep market insights.
Current development status: completed pilot.
Idan Avitan, CEO: Robotics engineer with extensive experience in R&D, manufacturing, and project management; has won drones, medical devices, and won innovation prizes for his work.
Seeking: partnership, investment.
Funding and use of funds: $2 million in a seed investment to scale into the U.S. market, launch more solutions for indoor small farms, and increase sales and reach profitability.
Metabolic Insights
Developing new, eco-friendly, and sustainable solutions for crop protection and productivity based on purified molecules from plants
Categories: biotechnology, crop protection
The problem: Mounting regulatory pressure causes to elimination of products from the market serving as a main driver for orientation towards more sustainable and eco-friendly solutions. Increased demand for clean label and natural ingredients becomes vital for the portfolio of global players in the industry. The plant-based solutions proved themselves as having huge potential for crop protection. Many crop protection products either directly derived or inspired from natural products.
Within the future green technologies, the synthetic biology approaches are among with the those having highest potential. The unique advantages offered by synthetic biology will enable industrial scale productions of molecules which are not feasible to synthesize or produce from plant material.
The product: The Metabolic Insights technology platform enables very efficient discovery, prioritization and development system for plant-based molecules for crop protection industry. The company tackles one of the major challenges facing the natural products development: scale-up. Scale-up capabilities include know-how in compound identification, purification, and metabolic engineering. For metabolic engineering, the Company is partnering with the leading laboratory in the field of plant metabolism (Prof. Asaph Aharoni, Weizmann Institute of Science).
We are focused on discovery of new crop protection products based on plant-based molecules. Our team has extensive expertise in various disciplines necessary for natural product development including discovery, development and regulation. Integration of various disciplines enables very efficient process of biological crop protection product development.
Current development status: working prototype.
Amir Noy, CEO: Versatile experience in CEO and VP positions of several companies with global operations (Alpha Bio Tec Ltd., Printar Ltd., Sunlight Medical Ltd.).
Seeking: collaboration, partnership, investment
Funding and use of funds: $2 million to $4 million to further validate our bio-active molecules in greenhouse and field across the key target crops; funds will be used to expand our personnel, to get access to quantity of molecules required for further testing, IP filing, greenhouse/field validation expenses and to finance the projects at Weizmann, which aim to fuel innovation in our pipeline.
Phytolon
Aiming to take the food colorant market by storm with the introduction of novel betalain-based natural products
Categories: biotechnology, food technology
Consumers are demanding natural substitutions to replace harmful artificial food colors currently used, and the industry is seeking new solutions that comply with consumer needs, and also meet the industry’s stringent requirements.
Phytolon is uniquely positioned to meet this dual challenge by producing natural, healthy and cost-effective food colorants, leveraging proprietary production technology licensed from the Weizmann Institute of Science. Phytolon’s products are well suited for various food applications in terms of both cost and stability.
Current development status: working prototype.
Halim Jubran, PhD, CEO & Co-Founder: Biotechnologist with 12 years of experience in leading projects in academia and biotech industry.
Seeking: collaboration, partnership, investment.
Funding and use of funds: Currently not raising funds.
ROOTS - Sustainable Agricultural Tech.
Developing disruptive, modular technologies to address critical problems in agriculture today, including plant climate management and water shortages
Categories: crop protection, food technology, precision ag/IoT
The problem: The demand for fresh water is currently an important political, social and economic issue in many countries: 70% of potable water in the world is consumed by agriculture. The renewable source of fresh water — the moisture of atmosphere — is almost not used.
The product: The company has developed proprietary know-how and patents that optimize performance, lower installation costs, and reduce energy consumption to a minimum — all in order to bring maximum benefit to farmers.
ROOTS' Irrigation by Condensation (IBC) is a standalone, closed-loop, solar-operated (or other energy source) system that irrigates crops by condensing air/soil humidity on the external surface of pipes.
ROOTS’ IBC system addresses the smallholder irrigation technologies market needs. This market comprises irrigation solutions suitable for small farms in developing countries.
Current development status: working prototype.
Boaz Wachtel, Co-Founder & Executive Director: Inventor of ROOTS' core technologies: irrigation by condensation (NASA Tech Brief magazine - Technologies of the Month) and root zone heating and cooling.
Seeking: collaboration, distributor, investment.
Funding and use of funds: $1 million-$3 million to allow manufacturing scale-up, marketing, sales, international expansion, and professional personnel recruitment.
Saillog
Digitizes plant protection management by leveraging proprietary artificial intelligence and computer vision algorithms
Categories: artificial intelligence, crop protection, farm management, precision ag/IoT
The problem: Agriculture is indisputably one of the most important sectors and happens to be the largest employer in the world. One would assume that given its significance, there would be strong systems in place to maximize smallholder farmers’ productivity, yet the ratio of extension workers (crop protection experts) to farmers is a disproportionate 1:3000 in developing countries such as Ghana.
This depicts a massive void in assistance, particularly because pests, diseases, and nutritional deficiencies account for upwards of 40% of agriculture yield losses. To exacerbate the imbalance, experts anticipate global climate change will proliferate outbreaks in crops.
The product: Saillog digitizes plant protection management by leveraging proprietary artificial intelligence and computer vision algorithms to support smallholder farmers in developing nations.
Saillog has developed an image recognition app that empowers each farmer with an AI agronomist. Additionally, the company has developed the first AI-based global alert system in agriculture that dispatches notifications for impending infestations in affected areas and high-risk zones.
The company's mobile app organically procured over 100,000 downloads worldwide, is available in 16 languages, and has a 4.6+ out of 5 rating in the Google Play store.
Current development status: commercialization/revenue.
Nessi Benishti, PhD, CEO & Founder: Before founding Saillog, Nessi co-founded and served as a CTO at Augmedics and was the core technology inventor at Cathworks. Along his studies and career, Nessi won numerous awards (Knesset Award for Excellent Students, Trinity Mathematics Studentship Award, Wolf Prize for Excellency in Science), published six publications in international journals, and registered 5 medical patents. Nessi holds MSc and PhD in Theoretical Physics from Cambridge and Oxford Universities.
Seeking: collaboration, partnership, distributor, investment.
Funding and use of funds: $4 million for R&D, new hires, marketing, G&A.
Seed-X
Enabling sustainable food security at the seed level, with the world’s first and only seed phenotype analysis tool
Categories: artificial intelligence, biotechnology, food technology
The problem: The food industry is looking for ways to feed in a more sustainable way. "Greener” agriculture and technological innovations are being undertaken by almost all global vendors to improve seed uniformity and quality. The seed industry is looking for R&D and improved production techniques.
The product: Seed-X enables sustainable food security at the seed level by revolutionizing quality control at every stage of the seed/grain value chain — using a powerful combination of AI, deep learning, machine vision and innovative phenotype analysis.
GeNee Breeder™ — the world’s first and only seed phenotype analysis tool — is breeding success, seed by seed, by enabling reliable classification of a wide range of genetic traits. GeNee Breeder scans up to 250 species of vegetable/ row crop seeds or grains in minutes and delivers accurate analysis of seed genetics, without destroying a single seed.
Current development status: field test(s)/trial(s).
Sarel Ashkenazy, Founder & CEO: More than 20 years of experience in operations, sales, business management and leadership. Sarel served as EVP Business at Kornit Digital Ltd. (NASDAQ: KRNT). As one of the pioneers, Sarel led business development and sales from $0 to over $100 million. Prior to Kornit, Sarel served in few executive roles in the Israeli start-up arena. Holds a BA in economics and BB in business management.
Seeking: collaboration, partnership, investment.
Funding and use of funds: Total investment $4 million for R&D (improve algorithm, conduct more experiments), sales and marketing (start sales and build the sales organization for next years, and service (build the service organization).
SeeTree
Offering farmers insights to optimize their trees, via an agronomic intelligence service supercharged by AI
Categories: artificial intelligence, crop protection, farm management, precision ag/IoT
The problem: The insights obtained from SeeTree help growers uncover problems, determine how to solve them, and assess the ROI for each action taken.
The product: SeeTree's end-to-end service provides growers with intelligence on individual trees and tree clusters from the air, ground, and underground.
Data extraction is performed using high-resolution, multidimensional sensing imagery obtained from drones, paired with ground sensors and rangers with boots-on-the-ground who acquire samples for further analysis. The insights obtained from SeeTree help growers uncover problems, determine how to solve them, and assess the ROI for each action taken.
Current development status: commercialization/revenue.
Barak Hachamov, Co-Founder & Chairman: Brings over 20 years of entrepreneurship and company-building; founded multiple ventures, most of which led to success stories, including an IPO.
Seeking: partnership, investment.
Funding and use of funds: $14.7 million; current focus is expansion in Brazil.