Startup Idea and Innovation for Augmenta.ag
Augmenta is a French company created by a team of specialists to innovate the agricultural sector. Formerly known as Agile Agriculture Technologies, Augmenta aims to help agricultural workers and service provides by giving them practical, easy-to-use, and inventive solutions that yield real results in terms of costs and performance.
Its main project is the development of an agricultural system made to provide a manageable way to fertilize crops through its In-Season Nitrogen Real-Time Variable Rate Application (VRA), In-Season Multizone Nitrogen Real-Time VRA, Harvest Aid Real-Time VRA, and Plant Growth Regulator (PGR) Real-Time VRA.
According to the company, its services have helped farmers increase their average yield by 2% overall. In particular, the nitrogen VRAs account for 9% increases, 20% for its PGR VRA, and 15% for its harvest aid VRA.
Currently, the private company has 57 employees with headquarters in France and operations in Greece and the United States.
Startup Timeline and History for Augmenta.ag
- 2016 – Augmenta was founded by co-founders George Varvarelis and Dimitris Evangelopoulos [1]
- 2017 – The company started its operations in Athens, Greece [2]
- 2018 – It participated in an accelerator/incubator program. It also received a grant in June and funding during a seed round in July [3]
- 2019 – It received another seed round funding in October
- 2021 – The company recruited more than 50 employees and acquired millions in funding.
Founders and Key People
George Varvarelis
George Varvarelis is an embedded systems engineer with a knack for artificial intelligence. He has taken different jobs as a farmer, product engineer, electrical engineer, and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program in 2018. He is a co-founder and the chief executive officer of Augmenta.
Varverlis is a graduate of The University of Thessaly with a Diploma of Electrical Engineering. He also finished a StarMIT course in Entrepreneurial Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently taking his Doctorate of Philosophy in Online Data Processing and Computer Vision at the University of Thessaly.
Dmitri “Jim” Evangelopoulos
Dmitri Evangelopoulos is a co-founder and the general manager of Augmenta. He is a computer engineer, entrepreneur, and technical diver. Before founding the company, he worked as a farmer, network security assistant, and senior developer.
Evangelopoulos attended school at Brunel University London and the University of Westminster, and attended the University of Thessaly learning computer and telecommunications engineering, as well as hardware and software engineering.
Funding Sources and Financial Profile
The company has raised a total of $11.2 million in funding. It received a $2.33K grant in June 2018, while it obtained funding of $600K [6] in a seed round in July 2018. Then, it raised $2.5 million [6] during an October 2019 seed round, and an early-stage investment of $8 million in March 2021 from a venture capitalist.
The company is currently offering its products and services at different custom pricing depending on the scale and needs of customers. Specific information needed to get the right rates include crops, fertilizer application method, type of business, strategy, farm size, and types of implements.
Major Competitors
- AGRA – http://agra.ag/
- Gramophone – https://gramophone.in/
- Empresa Agroindustrial Pomalca – https://pomalca.com.pe/
- GDM – https://www.gdmseeds.com/
References:
[1] https://www.augmenta.ag/company
[2] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/augmenta-2274
[3] https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/227253-52
[4] https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-varvarelis/
[5] https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimitri-jim-evangelopoulos-742a1842/
[6] https://agfundernews.com/augmenta-raises-600k-seed-round.html
[7] https://www.augmenta.ag/press-releases/augmenta-raises-2-5m-seed-round
[8] https://craft.co/augmenta/competitors
