Nave Analytics, a Nebraska-based irrigation efficiency tech startup founded in June 2021, recently closed a $400k funding round. Nave Analytics leadership say the funding will be used to advance its irrigation analytic software and expand into global markets. Investors in this round include Invest Nebraska, Husker Venture Fund, Nelnet and Nebraska Angels Capital Group.
The AgTech startup developed a sensor-free irrigation platform that equips producers with tools to make data-informed decisions about water use. For example, the software can collect environmental data to produce 3-D maps of water content in the soil in a producer’s field.
According to Nave Analytics Co-founder and CEO Jessica Korinek, the company’s use of remote sensing technology allows farmers to incorporate the Nave platform into their operations without drastically altering their current practices.
“We are providing soil moisture information for an entire field without having to have any sensors installed in the field,” Korinek said. “This gives us the ability to have an understanding of the entire water balance on a sub-field level, driving the ability to make more efficient irrigation decisions.”
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Nave leadership said the cash infusion will be used to fund R&D and for the completion of software development. Beyond supporting its first year of commercial operations in the United States, the company looks to expand outside of the country.
Korinek said she is thankful for the investors believing in Nave early in its development and its potential impact on water management for the future.
“By building a complete picture of the water balance down to the pixel level, meeting farmers where they are at with technology adoption and filling the data gaps when sensors don’t make sense, we can drive more efficient water use in agricultural irrigation,” said Korinek. “This funding allows us to build early traction, pursue global opportunities and set ourselves up for future funding.”
Korinek has a background in agronomy and 12 years of experience in the agriculture industry working with Nebraska farmers. Together with Nave’s two other Co-founders–Dr. Val Kovalsky and Bradly Griggs–the team has around 10 years of experience in researching and working within the irrigation space, Korinek said.
“Nave is a perfect example of experienced entrepreneurs with significant domain expertise coming straight from the front lines of the ag industry, who saw a gap from a real problem not being addressed and then used innovative technology to solve it,” said Invest Nebraska’s Principal and General Counsel Ben Williamson. “In addition, it doesn’t hurt that they’re building a new-age precision irrigation company in the mechanized irrigation capital of the world.”
Next up: The Nave Analytics team is preparing for its first growing season and beta testing its pre-season decision support tool in the U.S., in addition to expanding to markets in other parts of the globe.
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