AgriDigital’s mission to grow the value of grain by building the best digital grain management and finance platform for the world’s farmers, grain buyers and traders, brokers and storage operators has been given a boost after the company recently closed a $25 million capital round with a local fund keen to be part of this growth.
Started by farmer co founders Bob McKay, Ben Reid and Emma Weston, AgriDigital has grown to be the largest digital grain management platform in Australia with 15% of all grain produced here being transacted at the sale, delivery or storage point through the platform; and over 14,000 users.
CEO and co founder, Emma Weston confirmed that the round, which is a mix of debt and equity, enables the company across both the technology and finance landscapes.
“Our focus is to ensure that all of the grains industry has access to the tools for growth in the digital age. This means grain management software that operates in real-time, can be used in the paddock, the office or at the weighbridge by all of a farm or grain company’s employees, and that enables our customers to collateralise their grain assets to get same day access to working capital,” Weston said.
This announcement follows several milestone announcements in 2021 for AgriDigital across multiple partnerships and sustainable grain pilots.
“We recognise that our customers need to not only be ready for the digital grain supply chain, but also positioned to take advantage of new revenue streams and opportunities in sustainable supply chains” says Weston.
Backed by Square Peg Capital and one of Australia’s largest family offices in its initial capital raise in 2017, AgriDigital brought on San Francisco Bay Area based food system investor 1st Course Capital alongside an increased commitment by Square Peg Capital in 2019; and has now broadened its investor base to include a large global investor with experience in debt finance.
“We are seeing huge demand both from customers who need access to faster and more flexible forms of finance to support their growth as well as capital allocators who want to gain greater exposure to the agricultural sector.
“With almost 25 million tonnes transacted through AgriDigital last year at a value of over $6 billion and $150 million financed by us so far; we have big growth targets for AgriDigital Finance in 2022,” commented Weston.
Square Peg Capital’s Tony Holt said they continue to be excited by the opportunity.
“Over the past three years, Emma, Ben, Bob and the team at AgriDigital have proven that by digitizing the supply chain you can then finance and manage risk across that supply chain in new ways, and they are committed to making this available to every farmer and grain business in one of the world’s largest commodity markets,” Holt said.
AgriDigital’s focus on finance comes as part of continued product development and market growth across Australia and North America.
“Part of what makes us different is our focus on the whole supply chain, we are not just for farmers or just for traders, we are for the whole supply chain. This capital raise supports us to improve the experience for our existing customers and to accelerate onboarding for new users, so that they can get their work done as efficiently as possible for the lowest cost in terms of time, reduced errors and training time, improved decision-making and reporting.
“We are doing this now in Australia and the US; and there is a lot of growth in front of us. We aim to be the global leader; the team is motivated and ready,” Weston continued.
This feature was written by our Marketing Manager, Emma Williams. Emma is based in Sydney, but enjoys heading back to the family farm in Tamworth, NSW whenever possible.