Jan 9, 2023

Deere 2023 startup collaborators released

The names of the ag tech companies chosen for Deere & Co.’s 2023 Startup Collaborator program have been released.

The program helps John Deere improve precision technology in its agriculture and construction equipment.

“This year’s group shows the importance of connecting with the startup community across a broad range of applications and technologies,” Julian Sanchez, Deere’s director of emerging technology, said in a news release. “These connections help John Deere better understand opportunities to advance precision technology in agriculture and construction.”

The eight companies participating in the 2023 Startup Collaborator include:

• Albedo, a startup company developing low-flying satellites that will collect visible and thermal imagery at ultra-high resolution.
• ANELLO Photonics. Its Silicon Photonics Optical Gyroscope, a low-noise and low-drift optical gyroscope smart sensor for autonomous applications.
• GrAI Matter Labs is in the business of Life-Ready AI: live artificial intelligence chips that behave like humans.
• Impossible Sensing, an aerospace company developing and applying space technology to the agriculture industry to help the world become carbon neutral.
• IntelliCulture, a company providing farm equipment management software that helps drive sustainable farming practices through actionable insights, efficiency improvements and risk mitigation.

“The Startup Collaborator is an exciting way for big ideas to grow into something larger,” Michele Kaiser, business development manager for the John Deere Intelligent Solutions Group, said in the release.

“As John Deere continues searching for new and interesting ideas, we can add value to our customers, even if we’re not sure exactly how that might look. We are trying to help farmers solve big challenges in efficient ways. To do this, we need access to a lot of great ideas, so it’s exciting to welcome these companies into the 2023 Startup Collaborator cohort and to see what we can learn from each other by working together.”

In its fifth year, the Startup Collaborator includes alumni such as Bear Flag Robotics, and Hello Tractor. In 2021, Bear Flag Robotics was acquired by John Deere to support the company’s autonomous tractor solutions. In 2022, John Deere also invested in Hello Tractor, a company that connects tractor owners with smallholder farmers through a farm-equipment sharing app.