First FarmLogs developed its agriculture technology. Then the Ann Arbor-based startup landed the seed capital. Now the up-and-coming firm is starting to hire.
FarmLogs recently landed $4 million in venture capital. The Series A round was led by
Drive Capital, a Columbus-based venture capital firm with roots in Silicon Valley VC titan
Sequoia Capital. A couple of local investment organizations also participated in the round, including Ann Arbor-based
Huron River Ventures and Detroit-based
First Step Fund.
That cash infusion, along with a $1 million seed round it raised last year, has allowed FarmLogs to exponentially grow its staff. The firm has hired five people over the last year, hires that consisted of software engineers and designers. It now employs nine people and is looking to add interns this summer. FarmLogs is also in the process of trying to hire another six people, primarily software engineers.
"We will double the team this year," says Jesse Vollmar, CEO of FarmLogs.
FarmLogs makes online-based, farm-management software that enables farmers make better business decisions by providing real-time analytics and other strategic information. Vollmar and Brad Koch, who grew up in rural areas in Michigan's thumb region, came up with the idea in Silicon Valley's
Y Combinator but moved the startup to Ann Arbor. The idea behind the move was to be closer to agriculture business while also calling an emerging tech hub like Ann Arbor home.
The startup has taken off in its first year since it launched its product. Today farms in each of the U.S. 50 states and 130 other countries are using it. Vollmar says that 5 percent of row-crop farms (think traditional crops like corn) in the U.S. are using FarmLogs big-data technology and that number is growing rapidly.
"It all boils down to delivering more value to our customers," Vollmar says.
Source: Jesse Vollmar, CEO of FarmLogs
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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