As an agtech entrepreneur, you have an opportunity and a responsibility to shape how your company practices social as well as environmental sustainability. Addressing these areas is also important if you want to achieve lasting success

1. www.insightssuccess.com
Digitizing Agricultural Trade and Helping Family-run
Farm Businesses Make Meaningful Business Decisions
Most Innovative
AgTech
Companies of 2021
1
The
VOL 10 | ISSUE 04 | 2021
Jonathan Bernwieser
Co-founder and CEO
Farm-Tech
Solutions
Resolving Issues In
Smart Farming
to Boost Productivity
and Maximize
Profitability

4. Bringing
Revolution in
the Agricultural
Industry
ood is the source of our healthy living, and
Fagriculture is the backbone of it. Thus, having a
sustainable agriculture ecosystem in place can feed
everyone across the globe.
For today’s growing population, just the climatic conditions
are not enough; it is with technology we can meet the needs
of agriculture for the growing numbers. Technology has
immense potential to improve the conditions of farming.
However, farmers are still struggling with various concerns
such as trade wars, labor shortages, soil health, etc. But the
good news is there are some ingenious minds and
innovative AgTech companies who are working hard to
solve these issues by leveraging technological
developments.
With a broad range of diverse people in the ag-tech
industry, these companies never fail to impress us with their
bright, innovative ideas.
More AgTech companies are being introduced in the market
since the need to harvest and grow the food supply is also
massive. The demand for these ag-tech companies is also
increasing, adding more nutritional value to the agricultural
field. The farmers use their products on a larger scale, and
they trust their solutions, as it makes their process
convenient.
Food and Agriculture is such an industry where continuous
production is essential to keep things aligned. There is a
huge career for the coming entrepreneurs to prosper and
grow in the AgTech industry, as this industry keeps on
growing bigger and better. The next goal of the companies
in the AgTech industry is to reach the drought and the
famine areas, develop innovative products in those areas,
and improve the nutritional value for those nations.
Editor’s Desk

5. AgTech companies have certainly raised their
standards with the best use of the technology.
Their vision is to build a team with ground-breaking
products to solve all agriculture-related challenges
and contribute to the sustainability development of
the agriculture industry.
Even in the times of covid, these companies served
their purpose through supply chains and performing
tasks which otherwise were possible by human labor
only.
AgTech is creating a lot of opportunities by
implementing various channels to build innovative
agricultural products. The way the AgTech industry
is progressing with technological advancements and
state-of-the-art solutions will definitely be the key
differentiator factor in the global commodity in the
agricultural field.
In this edition of The 10 Most Innovative AgTech
Companies of 2021, we have enlisted those
innovative companies who are changing the face of
the agricultural industry with their path-breaking
solutions.
On the cover, we have Agrando GmbH, a company
that aims at digitizing agricultural retail across
Europe. Agrando is shaping a sustainable agricultural
market in which all market participants can do
business with each other as efficiently and
successfully as possible.
You will get to read about more such companies and
their innovative solutions. Also, while flipping the
pages, do not forget to read insightful articles written
by our in-house editorial team.
Let’s start!
sourabh@insightssuccess.com
Sourabh More

6. Digitizing Agricultural Trade and Helping
Family-run Farm Businesses Make
Meaningful Business Decisions
08
COVER STORY

7. 16 Resolving Issues In Smart Farming
to Boost Productivity and
Maximize Profitability
Farm-Tech Solutions
ARTICLE
Bringing Trust, Speed, and
Transparency in Agriculture Value Chain
Agnext Technologies
20 24
Helping Companies to Solve Impossible
Problems in Agribusiness through Data
Science and Analytics
SciCrop
On a Path to Revolutionizing
Agro-Credit
TerraMagna
28 32
Helping Farmers Feed the World’s
Rising Population While Taking
Care of the Planet
Terviva

8. sales@insightssuccess.com
October, 2021
Editor-in-Chief
Senior Sales Manager Business Development Manager
Marketing Manager
Technical Head
Technical Specialist Digital Marketing Manager
Research Analyst
Database Management Technology Consultant
Hitesh Dhamani
Managing Editor
Anish Miller
Executive Editor
Sourabh More
Assistant Editors
Jenny Fernandes
Visualizer
David King
Art & Design Director
Priyanka Rajage
Associate Designer
Kartik Balapurkar
Kshitij S Peter Collins
John Matthew
Sales Executives
David, Martin, Vinod
Business Development Executives
Steve, Joe, Dharmendra
Jacob Smile
Aditya Marry D'Souza
SME-SMO Executive
Amol Wadekar Frank Adams
Circulation Manager
Robert Brown Stella Andrew David Stokes
Shubham Dali
Co-designer
Copyright © 2021 Insights Success, All rights reserved. The content and images used in this magazine should not be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Insights Success.
Reprint rights remain solely with Insights Success.
Follow us on : www.facebook.com/insightssuccess/ www.twitter.com/insightssuccess
We are also available on :

9. Brief
Company Name
Peter Manettas
Founder and CEO
ShoreTrade
shoretrade.com
ShoreTrade is a B2B Online Trading Marketplace that allows
sale of seafood direct from fishery to wholesaler.
Jonathan Bernwieser
Co-founder and CEO
Agrando GmbH
Agrando.com
Agrando is a rapidly growing AgTech company from Munich
and the reliable partner of the successful agriculture.
New Wave Foods
newwavefoods.com
Mary McGovern
CEO
New Wave Foods makes sustainable, plant-based shrimp that
are every bit as delicious as ocean shrimp–and healthier for the
planet.
ED&F Man
edfman.com
Sharaz Hussain
CEO
ED&F Man is an employee-owned agricultural commodities
merchant with 5,500 people in 50 countries.
Bernardo Fabiani
CEO & Co-founder
TerraMagna
terramagna.com.br
TerraMagna is reinventing the way credit is underwritten,
provided and collected in Brazilian agriculture.
SciCrop
scicrop.com
Jose Damico and
Renato Ferraz
Co-founders
SciCrop offer the fastest, most efficient and flexible solutions of
data processing to deliver strategic information through
algorithms for you to manage your business.
AgNext Technologies
agnext.in
Taranjeet Singh Bhamra
CEO & Founder
AgNext is a fast-growing AgTech company that aims to solve
quality and trust in food value chains by making them safer,
transparent and fairer.
Dimitra Incorporated
dimitra.io
Jon Trask
CEO
The Dimitra agriculture platform incorporates inputs from
mobile app, sensors, satellite, and DNA tests.
Terviva
terviva.com
Naveen Sikka
Founder & CEO
Terviva is a food and agriculture company that delivers tasty
and nourishing plant-based food ingredients from the pongamia
tree.
Inghams Limited
inghams.com.au
Inghams is committed to nourishing the world through its
people, planet, partners and its products.
Leasa Beasley
CEO
Featured Person

10. Jonathan Bernwieser
Co-founder and CEO
Agrando GmbH

11. Digitizing Agricultural Trade and Helping
Family-run Farm Businesses Make
Meaningful Business Decisions
With the largest
independent trading
platform, Agrando
systematically helps
companies make
meaningful business
decisions.
‘‘
‘‘
COVER story

12. In the world of digitalization, it is essential to have
facilities for making online trade for every field, and
this truth applies to the agriculture field as well.
Certainly, digitalization, accompanied by groundbreaking
technologies, can transform the agriculture sector and open
doors for new opportunities.
Agricultural businesses can grow more if they have online
access. Thus, creating a digital platform that facilitates
online agricultural trade is of utmost importance for
companies trading in the agricultural sector.
Taking this significance of digitization for agricultural
trades into consideration, Agrando came into the inception.
Agrando aims at digitizing agricultural retail across Europe.
The company is shaping a sustainable agricultural market in
which all market participants can do business with each
other as efficiently and successfully as possible.
Today, Agrando is a team of more than 160 people with
more than a dozen nationalities. Besides, it also expanded
to Austria in 2020 and to France in 2021.
We at Insights Success caught up with Jonathan
Bernwieser, the Co-founder and CEO of Agrando, to
know more about Agrando and how it is breaking new
ground in the agricultural industry together with its
customers and partners.
Growing Together through Digitization
Headquartered in Munich, Germany, Agrando GmbH was
founded in 2017. It operates from two locations, Munich
and Pristina, Kosovo. Since its foundation, the company has
followed the ideology that all players involved in
agricultural trade can grow together through digitization. It
makes the latest market knowledge available to all players.
The more market participants use Agrando, the more
everyone can benefit.

13. With the largest independent trading platform, Agrando
systematically helps companies make meaningful business
decisions. About 20,000 farmers are registered on the
platform, with around 1,000 new farmers registering each
month. Agrando stands for an increase in knowledge and
opportunities - both for each individual business and for the
entire agricultural sector.
Working with the Combination of Online and Offline
Marketing
Talking about the journey of Agrando, Jonathan mentions
that the company’s first investment came mainly from
farmers themselves and other agtech enthusiasts because
most early-stage investors could not relate to what it was
trying to build. Agrando had already failed once, and
Jonathan, coming from a farm, convinced those who knew
the market that they are onto something can have a big
impact.
Agrando was founded twice; the first version was only
focusing on aggregating Supply and Demand. The team had
to learn that if they really want to make a difference and
work towards their purpose, they will have to dive a lot
deeper and get themselves involved in the processes behind
a transaction. They solved it by starting from scratch and
building their own software with their own data
architecture, which is able to reflect the complexities of
input procurement.
In the beginning, Agrando focused solely on online
marketing. But, it had to learn that if it communicates
online with a target group that is not online, it can send out
the greatest messages, but those messages will never be
read. Today, Agrando works with a great combination of
online and offline marketing. It has its own Customer
Service team on the phone. It entered into partnerships with
associations and other farmer communities and worked
together to provide transparency about the benefits of
digital tools. The company has learned that it's the mix of
online and offline/in-person and digital that holds the
biggest potential.
In July 2021, Agrando closed its Series A funding round
with the highest sum in Agtech in Europe ever. Investors
such as the Munich-based yabeo impact AG, Sony
Innovation Fund and Investbridge joined existing investors
such as June Fund and JLR Star. This successful round will
enable Agrando to focus on internationalization as well as
R&D.
Giving Businesses a Competitive Edge
Agrando is the leading independent solution provider for
digital agricultural trade. Its platform brings together all the
players involved, simplifies traditional retail processes, and
enables unique market analyses that help businesses of all
kinds remain competitive in the complex agricultural
economy in the long term.
At first sight, Agrando is a retail platform for farmers to buy
their supplies and for retailers to sell them. However, after
realizing that a mere online shop would not help agriculture
facing the future, Agrando built its own software and data
warehouse to truly support agricultural companies of any
size. That is what makes Agrando different from other
companies: Agrando is not just a marketing agency or
online store.
The company owns the necessary infrastructure to offer
fact-based support for farmers to make profitable decisions
and save money and resources in the long run. This enables
Agrando to connect retail partners who otherwise would not
have met. Even in such a regional business to every
stakeholder, Agrando offers trade-specific advice and
solutions.
Agrando is the
leading
independent
solution provider
for digital
agricultural
trade.
‘‘
‘‘

14. them and offering its support despite that has been the true
challenge for Agrando.
Making Agricultural Regional Structures Fit for Future
We asked Jonathan his thought on the necessity of a
positive work culture, to which he answers, “I would
transform positive work culture more into a purpose and a
value-driven work culture. Values and purpose come first.
We make sure we only involve people in our project who
match our company's values and who join Agrando because
of our purpose to make agricultural regional structures fit
for the future.”
He further adds, “We also prioritize feedback and open
communication: Team members are not left alone with their
questions, or feedback. We keep up a high level of exchange
routines throughout the entire company and we make sure
that team events can still take place, virtually or face to
face.”
As mentioned before, Agrando’s target group wasn’t online
yet. Both farmers and retailers lacked the infrastructure to
make purchases digitally. It knows that the majority of
farmers across Europe would like to shop online – but only
a fraction actually do so. The reasons are often simple: there
is a lack of infrastructure, purchasing is too time-
consuming, and the young generation of farmers does not
find the service that they are used to in other areas: fast
response times, expert advice, price transparency.
Turning Crisis into Advantage
Even during 2020 and so far during 2021, Agrando did not
stop hiring people. It turned the pandemic into an
advantage: For example, with people working mainly from
home, it could look for new talents outside the geographical
radius of its office buildings.
The biggest challenge is the one its clients are facing:
COVID-19 hit the agriculture sector, and these businesses
were and are facing completely new obstacles. Reaching
We connect you with
all the partners and
solutions you need
to manage your farm
in your region for the
future.
‘‘
‘‘

15. Utilizing Technology for Availing Edge and Being
Profitable
Especially in the agriculture industry, digitization arrived
rather later than sooner. However, factors like accessibility,
transparency, and targeting (new) customers are very
important in every field. Jonathan mentions that he is
convinced that businesses definitely need to invest in newer
technological developments in order to stay competitive
and profitable. But it is also the responsibility of companies
like Agrando to be supportive partners during that process.
He asserts, “A small, family-run farm does not have to
invest in their own IT services, a small retailer does not
have to invest in a 24/7 e-commerce agency. That’s where
we step in. We bring the knowledge and infrastructure to
enable agricultural companies of any size to use these
technological developments to their advantage.”
Strengthening Regional Structures
Agrando’s goal has always been to strengthen regional
structures, allow small agriculture businesses to strive, be
more flexible in financial decisions, and make more profit.
It is creating the opportunity for farms to position
themselves for the future and counteract structural change
in Europe.
When Jonathan looks at farms, he sees farmers who are not
100% dependent on the industry, but who continue to run
their businesses with same passion and entrepreneurial
spirit. With Agrando’s support, they can do that with even
more success.
Jonathan believes that Agrando will have expanded to a
number of countries in Europe in the next five years. It will
have established itself as a strong and valuable partner for
farmers and agricultural businesses.
Hear it from Satisifed Clientele
"At the regional retailers where I have bought or sold
before, I get better prices than before. We also found new
traders. They are not far away, but we didn't know them
before.” - Johannes Dierks, Farmer.
"The conditions for agricultural retail are changing, and we
have been feeling this for the last few years. With Agrando,
I have better prospects for the future. I trust the team to
provide me and my customers with the right services. If we
really all end up working in the same system and everyone
has the same starting point in terms of market information,
we can finally start investing the newly won time in
personal contact, additional services and really good
advice again." - Christian Hastreiter, Retail.
"Agrando's service can be very helpful for economic
planning on farms. Agrando takes care of the time-
consuming research, evaluates current market data and
connects the farmer with trustworthy retailers. With the
Agrando Pro Service, valuable time and unnecessary stress
can be saved in the procurement of inputs, and in addition
Agrando offers personal support in purchasing planning
and processing." - Christian Kluge, Managing Director,
Bremischer Landwirtschaftsverband e.V. (agricultural
association Bremen, Germany)

18. Resolving Issues in
SMART FARMING
to Boost
PRODUCTIVITY
and Maximize
PROFITABILITY
Farm-Tech Solutions
16 | October 2021 www.insightssuccess.com

19. he farming sector is the most essential part of any
Tnation. No nation can grow sufficiently without the
contribution of its farmers in the field of agriculture
and allied services. Agriculture is the most important food
supplier, and it plays a vital role in the economic
development of farmers and the nation. The Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations
states that the global need for food would grow more than
70% by the end of 2050 since the population will also
increase at that time by at least 2 billion. Although there is
enough production of food to feed the entire population,
close to 500 million people still suffer from malnutrition,
and over 800 million remain hungry because of insufficient
quality and quantity of food. Thus, smart farming is
essential in modern times to meet the needs of growing
population and produce good quality and quantity of food.
Smart farming creates the way for practicing sustainable
agriculture. Sustainable agricultural production means
meeting the increasing demand of people while protecting
the environment from climate crisis and ensuring that future
generations' prosperity is not threatened. In smart farming,
new innovations and the latest technologies are applied in
farming. It leverages various technologies and tools, such as
auto-guidance systems, drones, geographical information
systems (GIS), GPS, remote sensors, and IoT capabilities in
order to better control and enhance the production of crops,
improve monitoring capacities, and overall farm efficiency.
Though there are certain benefits of smart farming, but
implementing it is not so easy. There are also certain
challenges to agribusiness owners and farmers that need to
be resolved to ensure maximum profitability and greater
efficiency.
Smart farming has the potential to improve agricultural
processes in a more efficient, productive, and sustainable
way. It integrates a set of computational paradigms,
devices, technologies, and protocols to improve farming
processes. Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Big
data, Cloud, and edge computing provide capabilities and
solutions to evaluate the large data generated by
components. The development of new functionalities in the
agriculture field requires the inclusion of advanced security
features. New Security features should contain features of
reliability and accuracy. The challenge is that smart farming
is still in its initial phase and has quite a low level of
security features.
Data availability and accuracy are important points to help
farmers take smart and calculative decisions, and data
security is crucial for building strong and efficient systems.
Since smart farming includes a quantity of resources and a
wide variety, strong security addresses challenges of
handling massive data, compatibility, and constrained
resources. Smart farming can provide insights into how
plantation productivity can be increased without increasing
the crop area; it can optimize irrigation processes with less
water and energy consumption.
These insights from massive data can be utilized for
creating more sustainable practices. New capacities created
by the implementation of smart farming can optimize
agricultural processes, allowing an increase in production
by using minimum natural resources. Smart farming and
innovation in agriculture can transform all aspects of
agriculture. It can lead to more inclusive, transparent,
productive, and resilient farming systems. However,
integrating advanced technologies into the farming sector
depends on the complexity of mobile devices, remote
sensing, analytics, cloud, big data, cybersecurity, and such
different intelligent systems. For building robust and
efficient systems, smart farming should ensure the accurate
and complete generation, processing, and transfer of data,
and systems should have adequate security features to
prevent attacks.
Ensuring data integrity is essential for enabling the proper
functioning of data-driven technologies. In smart farming,
the devices and communication systems are mostly exposed
to climatic fluctuations. Elements like natural events,
engines, power line transmissions, wandering animals,
people, and agricultural machinery make smart farming
vulnerable to issues that have not been resolved in other
contexts so far. Light and efficient algorithms can be helpful
to resolve system constraints. Data should be protected at
all times to ensure system efficiency and reliability.
The modernization of farming methods is important for
increasing agricultural production and for preserving
natural resources. Smart farming enhances farming tasks
with efficient control of actuators, maximizing utility,
optimizing resource use, boosting production, maximizing
profitability, and minimizing costs. It demands that farming
systems should include more computational capabilities like
edge computing, capacity to handle massive data, latest
technology resources, and advanced and most accurate and
reliable security features. If these challenges in the farming
sectors are resolved, it can lead to the more economic
development of the country and benefit many farmers and
increasing population in the world.
Reaching an advanced level of smart farming demands
enhanced security features to protect valuable farming data
that give more opportunities to implement farming systems
on a large scale. Even though smart farming creates some
challenges, it also gives fresh and advanced research
opportunities in security as well as in other areas of
computer science.
17
|
October 2021
www.insightssuccess.com

22. AgNext has innovated &
developed full-stack
integrated algorithms,
so ware & hardware
platform, which addresses
quality assessment issues
across the Agri value chain,
enabling businesses to
analyze food on-the-spot in
just 30 seconds.
‘‘
‘‘
20 | October 2021 www.insightssuccess.com
Mr. Taranjeet Singh Bhamra
CEO & Founder
AgNext Technologies

23. Technologies
Bringing Trust, Speed, and
Transparency in Agriculture Value Chain
Undeniably, the quality of the food is the single most
value multiplier across the food value chains.
However, when it comes to assessing the quality of
the food, there are many issues that need to be addressed. A
leading agtech startup, AgNext Technologies, is using AI-
based technologies to solve food quality assessment issues.
By integrating hardware, software, and data analytics,
AgNext has innovated full-stack solutions that enable rapid
assessment techniques for quality estimation in the post-
harvest supply chain. With the increasing penetration of
deep-tech, AgNext aims to standardize the food quality
assessment across the value chains to facilitate a safer,
fairer, and more transparent food trade.
We at Insights Success caught up with Mr. Taranjeet
Singh Bhamra, the Founder and CEO of AgNext
Technologies, to know more about the company and how it
is revolutionizing AgTech for more sustainable agriculture
The Journey So Far
AgNext’s journey began at IIT-Kharagpur in 2016. It
received its first seed funding in 2017, powered by a-idea
NAARM. Later, it raised capital from renowned investors
like Omnivore and Kalaari, and recently from Falcon-Edge
managed Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI) fund. In September
2021, AgNext raised over USD $21 million, the largest
Series A raised by any Indian agtech start-up till date.
Currently, AgNext aims to digitize food quality using AI-
based food assessment technologies.
Story of Fierce Perseverance, Determination and Grit
Solving food quality issues in agriculture was not an easy
goal that leaders at AgNext set for themselves. AgNext’s
story is a story of fierce perseverance, determination, and
grit because, for the initial few years of its journey, its
leaders dedicatedly focused on building and improving
AgNext’s technology. From tirelessly collecting millions of
data-sets from multiple geographies to persistently building
AI-based models which can seamlessly function on-ground,
even without direct internet access or electricity, AgNext’s
vision was their North star, which kept them going to tackle
all challenges.
AgNext has faced common as well as some uncommon
hurdles, considering the unique concepts it has introduced
in the agtech space. However, despite all the obstacles, its
technological prowess and a brilliantly focused team have
gained AgNext the support of key investors, clients, and
other stakeholders who have helped the company today to
scale as one of India’s leading agtech start-ups.
Generating Value for Stakeholders Even in Tough Times
Taranjeet expresses that the disruptions in the agtech sector
brought on by COVID have led to unique technological
adoptions across the board. The pandemic led to the
destabilization of supply lines and hindered the movement
of resources and workforce across national and
international borders. This was one of the biggest
challenges faced by almost every company. However, the
companies that adopted technological solutions to
circumvent such challenges, were not only able to continue
operational tasks, but also continued to generate value for
their stakeholders.
AgNext, massively scaled its collaboration with existing
and new partners to leverage strengths of each other for
smooth exchange of data points, information, and on-
ground feedback.
21
|
October 2021
www.insightssuccess.com
The 10 Most Innovative AgTech Companies of 2021

24. Empowering Fair-Trading Practices and a Robust
Model of Quality
With an integrated approach to frontier technologies,
AgNext has innovated hardware, software, and data
analytics solutions that together concentrate on reducing the
quality estimation time of Agri-produce to a matter of
seconds, thereby ensuring a value-driven flow of quality
across the supply line. AgNext’s full-stack platform
‘Qualix’enables AI-driven instant access to food quality
testing. It provides SaaS-based solutions to manage,
monitor, and evaluate quality in the post-harvest supply
chain using sophisticated data analytics to cull out crucial
business insights.
The deployment of Qualix at distinct assessment stages
helps AgNext build trust and transparency in food chain
management systems. With the combined potential of these
tech-driven solutions, AgNext empowers fair-trading
practices and a robust model of quality.
Instilling Culture Based on Values of Trust and
Transparency
Taranjeet believes that strong company culture is a shared
set of values and beliefs that guide an organization towards
a successful future. He says, “Positive work culture is what
frames the success of your company, and it is essential to
sustain an emphatic working environment to foster healthy
engagement and a productive flow of ideas.”
AgNext has created many communication channels to
encourage healthy discourse across the company. By
instilling the values of trust and transparency in its work
culture, it has focused on building initiatives that not only
motivate its colleagues but also facilitate positivity in the
workplace. Additionally, it ensures a positive flow of
potential from distinct backgrounds with diversity and
inclusivity.
AgNext also prioritizes work-life balance to root out
potential burn-outs and stresses, which can hamper
productivity and positivity of the people at work.
Cutting Down Food Quality Assessment Time
AgNext is at the forefront of agricultural revolution 4.0. By
digitizing and standardizing quality, it is challenging the
subjective traditional quality assessment methods, and
offering deep-tech powered solutions for rapid food quality
assessments. Through Qualix, agribusinesses can cut down
the food quality assessment time from a stretch of hours to
a matter of seconds and also manage and monitor quality
flow in their supply chains.
Facilitating Better Profit Margins for Farmers
Farmers also benefit from AgNext’s instant food quality
assessment technology that is backed by AI-on-the-edge. In
traditional set-up, a farmer spends months cultivating a crop
and when he goes to sell it, it is subjectively and manually
analyzed for food quality, a process which has a high error
rate. By using technology to standardize food quality
testing, farmers can be assured of fair-pricing of their Agri-
produce which leads to better profit margins. AgNext’s
solutions benefit all stakeholders in the food value chains,
thus fostering trust and transparency between buyers and
sellers.
Increasing Geographical Footprint and Commodities
Portfolio
In conclusion, Taranjeet mentions that AgTech is an
emerging sector, but there is a rapidly growing interest
across the world in the potential of new-age technologies.
So, the pressure to perform is high, but AgNext has
significantly invested in building its technological
infrastructure and prowess, which ultimately is the key
differentiating factor.
Additionally, AgNext is also investing in building great
teams across the board who share in its belief that the future
of agriculture is digital. In the next five years, AgNext will
focus on increasing its geographic footprint and its
commodities portfolio to lead at the global scale.
22 | October 2021 www.insightssuccess.com

26. SciCrop
Helping Companies to Solve Impossible Problems
in Agribusiness through Data Science and Analytics
The 10 Most Innovative AgTech Companies of 2021
Renato Ferraz
Co-founder and Chief
Business Officer
SciCrop
24 | October 2021 www.insightssuccess.com
Jose Damico
Co-founder and CEO
SciCrop

27. Today, data is revolutionizing every industry. When
it comes to the agriculture industry, many existing
challenges can be resolved by leveraging data
science. It was this idea that led to the inception of
SciCrop.
SciCrop was founded by Jose Damico and Renato Ferraz
to help companies transcend impossible problems in the
agribusiness sector through data science and analytics.
Previously working for many years in the analytics market
for financial institutions, Jose and Renato joined forces to
create a company that would become the leading player in
advanced analytics for top ag multinational companies.
As pioneers in the Brazilian agtech market, SciCrop
became a trusted advisor and a reference for all the
community. It started to solve complex data integration
problems in the ag supply chain, quickly expanding
operations around Brazil. SciCrop’s mission today is to be
the biggest partner in the journey of digital transformation
of the main companies in the agribusiness chain. With a
business model of analytics as a service (AaaS), SciCrop
has already earned more than 25 international awards in 7
countries, as a prominent innovation, tech and scaleup start-
up.
We at Insights Success caught up with Renato to know
more about the company and how it has made its way to be
known as the leading analytics provider for the largest ag
companies.
Being Market Fit
SciCrop faced many challenges in its journey, but the
market fit was the bigger one. Its first defeat was the market
maturity, which was not prepared for this kind of
digitalization at the time. Many offers of SciCrop depend on
data that should be integrated in a data warehouse with a
regular frequency and volume to enable the analysis process
and algorithms development.
In the first three years, SciCrop has been racing to develop
its infrastructure and protocols to facilitate the adoption of
its clients in the analytics journey. Today it offers the
complete solution from the beginning, adding to its scope
the service of data management and cloud support. This
process also helped SciCrop to pivot its business model
and solve the challenge of the solution market fit. At that
time, SciCrop was focused on the B2F (Business-to-
Farmer) suffering to monetize, and then it started the B2B
model.
Serving Large Agribusiness Companies with Advanced
Analytics
First of all, SciCrop is a technology company. As any
company today needs technology to scale its operations,
SciCrop has been surfing the wave of being one of the
only startups to serve large agribusiness companies with
state-of-the-art in advanced analytics. Its services and
solutions meet the main challenges of the agribusiness
chain, providing what it calls agriculture 4.0.
In an increasingly competitive market, SciCrop’s clients'
operations need to be optimized to the limit, providing
gains that are only possible to be realized when data
shows how to execute those operations. Its AgroAPi is a
classic example of a solution that serves the entire chain
and allows its clients' flexibility to analyze and generate
insights into their operation. If someone needs something
customized, SciCrop also offers a solution and that way it
positions itself as the main technology supplier for the ag
industry in Brazil.
Giving Freedom of Creation and Space for Employees
When it comes to maintaining a positive work culture,
SciCrop keeps its team young, always seeking to update
the main technologies and market practices. It gives
freedom of creation and space for employees to develop as
a person. It all starts with the hiring process. At the
beginning of its journey, the company was incubated by
Google, and it learned how to hire in the right way, and
today it has almost no resignations. People like and
believe in the company’s mission.
We pride ourselves on national
and international recognition as
one of the main agtech in gener-
ating value for our customers. In
our history, we have won several
awards that demonstrate our
technical capacity and engage-
ment in the sector.
‘‘
‘‘
25
|
October 2021
www.insightssuccess.com

28. Becoming a Reference in Technology for Agribusiness
Renato mentions that SciCrop has a practice of
working with open source and always contributing to
the software community, maintaining some projects for
the sector. It also innovates with its R&D; it has
partnerships with research institutes that provide the
development of new cutting-edge technologies. For
SciCrop, it is simply an obligation to become a
reference in technology for agribusiness.
Supporting Sustainable and Scalable Agribusiness
Moreover, SciCrop has always been very close to the
community, both in technology and in agribusiness. From
the beginning, its objective has been to bring technology
to improve ag productivity and reduce production costs in
agribusiness.
As Renato mentioned, SciCrop is adept at the open-
source, and many solutions it develops have already
helped create new products by other partners and by the
market. SciCrop is a part of innovation hubs that help
technify producers, and it is present in sustainability
initiatives that empower the community, such as the
Sustainable Soy Program in the Cerrado, supported by the
Land Innovation Fund. Supporting a more sustainable and
scalable agribusiness is at the base of SciCrop's values,
and consequently enables farmers to be prepared to
compete internationally with productivity.
Maintaining Credibility with Current and Future
Clients
Talking about the future of SciCrop, Renato expresses that
the competition in the AgTech industry is growing every
year. In the last 3 years, the number of startups in this
sector has tripled, and they all want to be in the cradle of
agribusiness: Brazil. He considers it is important for
SciCrop to be well prepared.
Renato believes that the company will have a little more
peace of mind by being positioned throughout the chain
and in a more infrastructural part of the technology. What
SciCrop does is difficult to deliver, so good competitors
will emerge, but they will be less compared to other
segments. SciCrop plays its role, always being aware of
what is new and disruptive and creating new solutions to
serve customers.
“Evolving is always necessary in this world of technology.
And connections/network are even more important in the
agribusiness sector. So, positioning ourselves as a trusted
advisor is critical to maintaining credibility with current
and future clients. In the end, it's all about keeping a
talented team, having a good vision of the future, and
above all, being faithful to our values, and here in SciCrop
our main value is to change people's lives for better by
bringing greater productivity to agribusiness that should
feed more than 9 billion people in 2050,” concludes
Renato.
26 | October 2021 www.insightssuccess.com

30. Bernardo Fabiani
CEO/Co-founder
TerraMagna
28 | October 2021 www.insightssuccess.com

31. TerraMagna
On a Path to Revolutionizing Agro-Credit
he agriculture industry has revolutionized over the
Tpast few decades by leveraging innovative
technologies. However, agriculture still struggles
with the credit culture.
Often, news of farmers suffering from the credit culture is
common across the globe. In many instances, they end up
paying more than they have to, making a farmer's life
miserable.
Bernardo Fabiani the CEO, and Co-founder of
TerraMagna, came up with a brilliant way to help farmers
access fair credit. The company works with an exclusive
technology that allows granting credit to distributors and
producers faster than the traditional market at fairer rates.
Let’s unveil how TerraMagna is revolutionizing agro-credit
and taking the Brazilian agriculture market to new heights.
Triumph Over Modern Drought
Brazilian agribusiness, to function, needs credit. And that
credit is scarce. In the 1970s, Brazil imported commodities
to feed its people. Today, it is a production power, the
largest exporter of soybeans, corn, and other crops. This
evolution began with a state policy that used official
resources to provide the needed financing, which is no
longer sufficient like any market matures. Insufficient
government subsidy made the agribusiness look for other
ways of financing. However, Brazil has a data blackout in
the rural field - which often lacks a basic internet
connection.
TerraMagna was created to eliminate this information gap
between those who need credit to fund or invest in a crop
and the financer - be it a retailer that does a forward sale,
bank, securitization company, or a capital market investor
seeking more profitable options.
Through the utilization of satellites, government data, and
artificial intelligence, TerraMagna analyzes and monitors
agricultural warranties, from seeding to harvesting. This is a
way to solve the fact that Brazil does not have much
information about crop fields to measure risks.
Up Until Now
TerraMagna is reinventing how credit is underwritten,
provided, and collected in Brazilian agriculture by
leveraging technology and alternative data sources to
transform a risky and volatile process currently done by less
sophisticated players into a simple and safe experience.
The goal of TerraMagna is to provide access to fair and
simple credit to farmers, retailers, and industries. Through
this, investors have high-yield, collateralized, market-
uncorrelated, high-volume assets to invest in.
Since its institution in 2017, it has gone through some
important milestones. It is the first Brazilian company to be
invested by Yield Lab and was chosen as one of the 100
most potential startups in Brazil by Pequenas Empresas &
Grandes Negócios magazine for three consecutive years
(2019, 20 and 21).
The 10 Most Innovative AgTech Companies of 2021
29
|
October 2021
www.insightssuccess.com

32. Recently, TerraMagna was in a US $2 million round led by
OneVC with participation from Maya Capital, Accion
Venture Lab, and key angel investors. The idea, which
started with three engineers with big dreams, is now a
company with more than 130 employees.
Steady Growth During Pandemic
Unlike other sectors of the Brazilian economy, agribusiness
continued to grow, even during the pandemic. Brazilian
agribusiness had a gross domestic product growth of almost
17% in agro, compared to two years ago. The sector opened
more than 61 thousand new job opportunities, the best
performance since 2011.
While this growth is remarkable, even during an
economically complex period, the agriculture market still
lacks sophistication, technology, credit - the area in which
the company operates. This leaves room for innovative
ideas to be applied in the segment, with significant potential
for growth and positively changing the lives of millions of
families, which is precisely its objective.
Unmatched Offerings
TerraMagna utilizes several technologies to follow all the
evolution points of a crop, from seeding to harvesting,
measuring previously intangible risks for the financier.
In addition, with the recurrence of the analysis, the
company makes it possible for unavoidable problems (such
as weather) to be predicted and, most important, for data-
based actions to be taken during the crop cycle, preventing
debts from rolling over for consecutive years.
This process brings lucidity for granting credit to the
farmer's various needs. It allows them to pay rates
according to the risk presented by his production, by the
conditions of his city, specifically, and not by a market
average that will always be expensive to offset the intrinsic
risks involved.
Value-Driven Culture
Trust is the foundation of everything TerraMagna does. It
believes in the power to simplify and only brings positive
things to one's daily lives: the organizational climate
improves, the employees feel part of what it does, and
coexistence is simpler.
That's how the company keeps itself aligned in fighting the
battle.
Concepts such as free communication between all sectors,
transparent processes, assertive organization, and planning
We take to
agribusiness the
most important
input: credit.
30 | October 2021 www.insightssuccess.com

33. are the reasons it constantly achieved exponential growth.
Without these values, the company would certainly still be
many steps behind.
Backing Up the Community
Much of TerraMagna's innovation comes from its exclusive
technology and market intelligence that allows it to
understand better the risk offered in each production and, if
necessary, to charge that farmer better without harming
their sustenance resources.
As a company, TerraMagna ensures that it is always the
most correct, fairest option to finance the farmer. In a recent
case, it worked in a barter operation where the farmer paid
56% interest a year to fund his production. However, with
the company's expertise, he paid half that percentage,
directly receiving the impact of almost a 30% increase in
his profit.
Branching Out Fruition
Bernardo expresses that all input sales in the Brazilian
agriculture market are 74% self-financed through
forwarding sales from retailers to farmers. TerraMagna lets
the retailer worry only about the core of their business -
selling inputs - without having to play the obligatory role of
the financier. The TerraMagna team is the ones who do the
financing.
Through this, the company's goal is to become the ultimate
platform for financing agriculture in the Brazilian market
and any underdeveloped agriculture. It could take the same
solution to the rest of Latin America (except for Chile) and
Africa or Eastern Europe.
Sprouting Aspiring Entrepreneurs
Bernardo says, "In the entrepreneurial environment,
especially when we talk about startups, it is common to
hear the term "build fast and break things." But it's
essential to understand that in agribusiness, when you do
this, you're not breaking an app in a person's hand, neither
a customer experience only, you're breaking a family's
recipe.”
"The level of seriousness, of responsibility you must have in
agribusiness is incomparable with the lightness with which
venture-backed technology companies are used to
working," concludes Bernardo.
31
|
October 2021
www.insightssuccess.com

34. Naveen Sikka
Founder & CEO
Terviva
32 | October 2021 www.insightssuccess.com

35. Helping Farmers Feed the World’s Rising
Population While Taking Care of the Planet
Modern agriculture systems contribute to
deforestation and a significant share of
greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate
change. Today, every person involved in the food system
should be considering how they can contribute to building a
sustainable food and agriculture ecosystem.
Responsible sourcing of global food supplies is a huge
challenge that needs to be addressed immediately. Terviva,
a food and agriculture technology company, is addressing
these pressing issues with a novel approach.
Based in Alameda, California, Terviva delivers delicious,
nourishing, and sustainable plant-based food ingredients
from the pongamia tree. It provides patented high-yielding
trees and offers proprietary bean processing to create highly
sustainable oil and protein food ingredients. Pongamia trees
restore farmland to productive use, helping farmers feed
people while taking care of the planet.
Utilizing experience in management consulting, technology,
natural resources, and agriculture, Naveen Sikka
established Terviva to understand and extend the benefits of
the ancient pongamia tree’s resilience and protein and oil-
packed beans. Since then, Terviva has introduced pongamia
as a new commercial crop that converts distressed farmland
into sustainable, productive acreage.
Under Naveen’s leadership, Terviva has unlocked
pongamia’s potential as a climate-friendly, nutritional
powerhouse for feeding the world’s rising population.
Introducing Nutritious Food Ingredients from
Abundant Yields
Ten years ago, Terviva was set out to grow an
environmentally-friendly source of vegetable oil and plant
protein. It planted acres of pongamia for the first time,
developed a patented library of high-yield cultivars, learned
how to commercially grow and harvest the tree crop with
equitable farming practices, and introduced nutritious food
ingredients from its abundant yields. Today, it is readying
the world’s first-ever healthy and sustainable pongamia
food ingredients to enter the market.
Being Patient and Committed to Success of Farmers
Initially, it was challenging for Terviva to introduce
pongamia to growers as a new tree crop that can be farmed
commercially for essential food ingredients since it needed
four years to mature before harvest. For a crop farmer, who
is not familiar with the nutritional and environmental
benefits of pongamia, this is a hard sell. By collaborating
closely with growers who had underutilized land in
geographies, Terviva knew pongamia would flourish; it was
able to get enough trees in the ground to prove its abundant
The 10 Most Innovative AgTech Companies of 2021
33
|
October 2021
www.insightssuccess.com

36. yields and value as a source of delicious and nutritious
foods. The success of the farmers Terviva works with has
been core to its mission since the beginning of its journey.
Using Customized Digital Technology Solutions
Talking about the impact of the pandemic, Naveen mentions
that trust and traceability in food supply chains are
paramount in the wake of the pandemic. As demand for
ethical products becomes mainstream, there’s been an
increase in brands that want to be perceived as socially and
environmentally sustainable. How foods are grown, and
their impact on the people who cultivate them matters
greatly, says Terviva.
Using customized digital technology solutions, Terviva
commits to 100 percent supply chain traceability
throughout its network of smallholder farmers in India and
commercial growers in the U.S. This helps consumers trust
the origin of its food ingredients and that their purchasing
power benefits all the stakeholders who help deliver these
foods to their table.
Restoring Productivity of Farmland and Helping Avoid
Deforestation
Terviva’s IP platform and innovations enable it to be the
primary maker of pongamia-based foods. It is readying the
launch of golden-colored, buttery-tasting vegetable oil that
will be available next year, followed by protein isolates and
a highly soluble protein flour.
Its golden pongamia oil is mid-oleic, which means it has a
high percentage of omega 9 fatty acids and has a high
smoke point. Chefs rave that pongamia culinary oil tastes
like ghee with the finish of extra virgin olive oil. It can be
used to improve the texture and mouthfeel of buttery
spreads, mayonnaise, sauces, plant-based milk, and
creamers, or dressings, among various applications.
Pongamia culinary oil’s balanced nutritional profile and
regenerative cultivation make it better for people and the
planet than vegetable oils such as soy, palm, coconut,
canola, sunflower, avocado, or olive oil.
Farmers grow and harvest pongamia trees to restore the
productivity of farmland and help avoid deforestation.
Pongamia trees are resilient, nitrogen-fixing, require low
inputs, and yield up to five times the beans per acre as U.S.
soy. Their abundant yields and ability to capture 115 metric
tons of carbon per acre over its 30-year lifetime are used to
Our IP platform and
innovations enable
us to be the primary
maker of
pongamia-based
foods.
34 | October 2021 www.insightssuccess.com

37. unlock new sources of revenue for Terviva’s grower
partners.
Being Transparent, Efficient, and Innovative
Terviva’s culture is at the heart of everything it does. It
values operational transparency, rigorous execution, and
innovative thinking. As a diverse team with a broad range
of backgrounds and professional expertise, it actively
commits to ensuring that its members’ voices are heard, and
the best ideas win.
Leveraging Technology to Ensure Excellence
According to Naveen, technology allows food and beverage
brands to be radically transparent and share information in a
way that is credible, comparable, and easily accessible to
consumers, which is valuable for consumers and food
companies alike.
Terviva leverages customized technology solutions to
ensure excellence across its supply chain, from tracking
which cultivars provide the highest yields for its grower
partners, to identifying and supporting individual
smallholder farmers in India who help to wild-harvest
pongamia beans for a greater profit than was previously
available to them.
Giving Back to the Community
Terviva is committed to creating long-term social value and
benefits for all its stakeholders and its communities. It
ensures its growers get fair compensation for their work
beyond the payment for the crop harvested from their fields.
Cultivating pongamia has net positive effects, including
carbon sequestration, cleaner water, and more biodiverse
and resilient habitats. Terviva’s commitment extends to
developing markets for growers to receive compensation
for these ecosystem services too.
The company’s supply chain of wild-harvested pongamia
beans also creates long-term benefits for smallholder
farmers in India, who receive at least a 10 percent premium
over the minimum support price set by the government,
which ensures shared and equitable incomes for rural tribal
communities.
Developing New and Innovative Products
The next phase of Terviva’s work will see the launch of the
world’s most sustainable vegetable oil and protein food
ingredients at scale. It will continue to build its traceable
supply chains of pongamia beans and collaborate with
leading sustainability-focused CPG companies to develop
new and innovative products that outperform existing plant-
based foods in taste, nutrition, and sustainability.
Ensuring Ethical Treatment of People and Planet
In his advice to emerging AgTech leaders, Naveen says,“As
an agtech entrepreneur, you have an opportunity and a
responsibility to shape how your company practices social
as well as environmental sustainability. Addressing these
areas is also important if you want to achieve lasting
success.”
35
|
October 2021
www.insightssuccess.com