INVESTMENT
BIG DATA, SAAS FIRM GRO INTELLIGENCE RAISES $85M IN SERIES B FUNDING Big data and software-as-a-service firm (SaaS) Gro Intelligence announced in January that it had raised $85-million in a Series B funding round co-led by Intel Capital, Africa Internet Ventures, and the family offices of Ronald Lauder and Eric Zinterhofer. The company’s previous investors DCVC and GGV Capital also participated in the round along with new investors that included Schusterman Family Investments, Dick Parsons, and Rethink Food.
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he AI-powered insights firm was founded in Nairobi in 2014 by Ethiopian born CEO Sara Menker together with COO Sewit Ahderom and CTO Nemo Semret. Operating out of its headquarters in New York, Gro Intelligence provides decision-making tools, solutions and analytics to the food, agriculture and climate economies and their participants. According to business information platform Crunchbase, Gro Intelligence’s latest round brings the total funding amount raised by the firm to about $112.4-million. The company explained that the new capital will be used to accelerate the growth and global adoption of the Gro Platform, enhance the platform’s machine-learning capabilities and to deliver localised insights on food, agriculture and climate risk. Menker, commenting in an earlier statement, said food security and climate risk represent existential global-sized opportunities for the Gro Intelligence’s AI-powered decisions and insights platform. “We see a tremendous need for the market knowledge provided by the Gro Platform. Our customers have come to rely on Gro as a unique source of actionable data-driven insights about our food supply and
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SYNAPSE | 1ST QUARTER 2021
Gro Intelligence CEO and founder Sara Menker
models to measure and manage associated climate change risk to physical and financial assets across the globe. We are absolutely delighted to welcome our new investors and continue to be grateful to our existing investors for their support,” added Menker. Intel Capital senior managing director Trina Van Pelt pointed out that Gro Intelligence is “one of the most exciting” AI companies and is tackling two of the world’s biggest challenges -- food security and climate risk. “Their software-based platform will drive compute-powered cross-border knowledge to surface meaningful insights and enable better informed
agricultural decisions. We are excited to co-lead this investment round because Gro Intelligence’s technology aligns with our mission of unleashing the power of data to improve the world,” added Van Pelt. TPG Africa managing partner Yemi Lalude said Gro Intelligence’s remarkable journey so far demonstrates the growing importance of AI in driving a more sustainable food supply. “PG Growth is proud to have supported the company from its beginnings in Nairobi to the forefront of today’s efforts to make companies and institutions across multiple industries around the world more resilient to climate change and climate risk.” ai
