farmdrive raises £1m to expand agri-tech across UK and Europe

farmdrive closes £1million pre-seed investment round 🚀 We’re excited to announce farmdrive has secured a £1million pre-seed investment to accelerate the global scale-up of our livestock data and supply chain platform. The round was led by Techstart Ventures and Ascension, with participation from Angel Invest, marking a huge milestone for our team and the future of digital livestock management. Built based on our co-founders' experiences on family farms, farmdrive now supports 1,000+ beef and dairy farms across the UK and Ireland, tracking more than 150,000 cattle, saving farmers 6+ hours a week, and helping processors and retailers unlock full farm-to-shelf transparency through farmdrive enterprise. This investment will support us to: 🌍 Expand across the UK and Europe. 👩💻 Grow our team across engineering, data & customer success. ⚙️ Accelerate product development. 🔎 Strengthen real-time traceability and sustainability reporting. A huge thank you to our investors and to the NI business support ecosystem including John Ferris at the Ulster Bank Accelerator and Ormeau Labs, who believed in our mission from day one. If you’d like to read the full story, you can check out the announcement here 👇 🔗 https://lnkd.in/e-Q6N9wA #farmdrive #AgriTech #InvestmentNews #TechstartNI #NorthernIreland #Startups #LivestockManagement #Traceability #SupplyChainTech #FarmToFork #DigitalFarming

Accelerating and democratizing genetic improvement is a sure pathway to improved economic and ecological sustainability for our livestock industries. Tenacious Ventures is thrilled to co-lead Nbryo's $10 million seed round to do just that - delivery much needed solutions for beef and dairy producers that will help improve efficiency, profitability, and ecological sustainability at the same time. We are joined by new investor AgriZeroNZ as co-lead as well as co-investors QIC, Mandalay Venture Partners, many current shareholders, and the ongoing support of the founding Murdoch family. Nbryo has a hugely exciting innovation program that is being fueled by this funding - so look out for some exciting announcements in the near future.

Big news for ForeseeD! 🐮 🌍 We’re honored to receive funding from the Gates Foundation to help us make advanced cattle genetics accessible to everyone - from large farms to smallholder dairy farmers around the world. This milestone reflects the power of innovation with purpose - technology designed to make food systems more productive, sustainable, and equitable. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/dpfYh9PH #AgTech #AgriTech #AgInnovation #AgriInvesting #ImpactInvesting #FoodTech #LivestockTech #AnimalHealth #DairyInnovation #SustainableAg #ClimateSmartAgriculture #FutureOfFarming #GlobalDevelopment #GatesFoundation #ForeseeD #Startups #Innovation #TechForGood

Farm management and precision ag software startups led agrifoodtech funding in Q3 2025, thanks largely to a few big deals, including the $100 million raise from virtual fencing startup Halter.

farmdrive secures £1 million Pre-Seed Investment led by Techstart Ventures and Ascension with participation from Angel Invest! Founded in 2023 by two NI entrepreneurs, Gareth McDonald (CEO) and Gareth Gordon (CTO),  farmdrive was built based on their own family farm experience to replace the heavy burden of compliance paperwork with simple but powerful software. Today, the platform is used by over 1,000 beef and dairy farms across the UK and Ireland, tracking over 150,000 cattle, with farmers reporting they are saving at least 6 hours per week on compliance and record-keeping. Congratulations to Gareth McDonald, Gareth G. and the team on the investment! Read the full press release here: https://lnkd.in/dbER9XWB Subscribe to our newsletter to receive weekly deals in your inbox: https://lnkd.in/g54BWBTY Access the Deal Lite web app for company and investor intelligence: https://deallite.uk #UKTechInvestmentNews #DealLite #Investment

🚀 Big news! Our portfolio company Farm to Feed has raised $1.5M in seed funding to scale its tech-enabled marketplace that turns Kenya's food loss challenge into an opportunity for farmers, businesses, and the planet. We were proud to be the first institutional investor back in January 2023, and we’ve continued to support Farm to Feed’s growth both by re-investing in this round and by facilitating connections with several of the participating investors. The company connects smallholder farmers with reliable B2B buyers for surplus and imperfect produce, creating a more resilient, low-waste food system that boosts farmer incomes and cuts emissions. 💬 “𝑭𝒂𝒓𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝑭𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂'𝒔 𝒃𝒊𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔… 𝒘𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑪𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆, 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉-𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔, 𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒔 𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆,” 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 Maelis Carraro, 𝑭𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓, Catalyst Fund. The round was led by Delta40 Venture Studio, with participation from DRK Foundation, Catalyst Fund, Holocene, Marula Square, 54Co, Levare Ventures, and Mercy Corps Ventures. We're proud to back Claire van Enk and the Farm to Feed team as they continue to show that climate innovation and inclusive growth can go hand in hand. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dNCxvuaE Learn why we invested: https://lnkd.in/dHZxXGgt Maelis Carraro, Maxime Bayen, Rasima Swarup, Sydney Thiam, Javier Linares, Ngetha Mwangi, Valiullah Hashmi, Maureen Koech, Charles I. Nweke, Olúwatóyìn Emmanuel-Olubake, Yemi A.

Reservoir has launched Reservoir Ventures (VC), an evergreen fund investing in pre-seed AgTech startups in robotics, precision agriculture and AI for specialty crops. Dr. Matthew Hoffman, former AgTech leader at Driscoll’s, joins as General Partner to accelerate early innovation through capital-efficient, stage-gated funding. With specialty crops generating over $1 trillion globally but receiving under 5% of AgTech investment, Reservoir VC aims to close this funding gap and help practical, climate-smart solutions reach growers faster. Read the full article: https://zurl.co/5DNWU

While some industries chase the next digital breakthrough, others are turning their attention back to the land. Agriculture has become one of the most promising areas for long-term, meaningful innovation. From regenerative farming to AI-powered crop management, agtech startups are tackling the core question of how we feed a growing planet. Discover which investors are fueling this movement and where the next wave of innovation is taking root: https://lnkd.in/gyApfe6u AgFunder Carrot Ventures Syngenta Group Ventures S2G Investments Capagro Omnivore Cultivian Sandbox Ventures Tenacious Ventures #agriculture #agtech #venturecapital #investors #startups #funding

The Chennai-based agri-tech startup has raised $2 million in seed funding, led by WEH Ventures with participation from Rainmatter, Spiral Ventures, and key angel investors. Co-founded by Harish Varadharajan, Timothy van Niekerk, and Damián López Salazar, Fragaria is revolutionizing indoor farming through data-driven cultivation. Proud to see NEXSEL ’s LED grow lights supporting this journey of precision farming and premium fruit production. . . . . #Nexsel #FragariaFruits #AgriTechInnovation #VerticalFarming #SmartFarming #Sustainability #TABgroup

It was a pleasure to meet LettUs Grow at last week's Thursday Gathering! In partnership with the Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA), we explored how we can grow more food with less pressure on our world 🌏 Jack Farmer and his team are disrupting a decade-old glasshouse irrigation system by using ultrasonic aeroponics that allow plants to grow faster, while using less water, fertiliser, and zero pesticides. Startups like these are crucial to building international food security and strengthening the resilience of the UK sector. If you would like to get involved in scaling this technology, get in touch with the team at LettUs Grow! #FoodSecurity #Innovation #Startups #Networking #CommunityBuilding