Yara Growth Ventures, the investment arm of Yara International ASA, reported on Aug. 18 an investment in Sabanto Ag, Chicago. 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 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,” said Björn Heinz of Yara Growth Ventures. “Going forward, we are excited to see Sabanto Ag alleviating key concerns in modern agriculture: high equipment cost and labor shortage.”
“We started Sabanto with our sights set on fixing the lack of labor and resetting the out-of-control capital expenses in agricultural machinery,” said Rupp, Founder and CEO. “We see a future of smarter, smaller, lighter, less expensive, and more sustainable swarms of autonomous equipment, substituting horsepower and weight for time. 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.