CropIn Partners Google Gemini To Launch GenAI Platform For Helping Customers Manage Farms Globally

Bengaluru-based agritech startup CropIn has partnered with Google Gemini to roll out a real time GenAI-powered agri intelligence platform to help customers manage farms globally by predicting yields, disease and other key insights. 

“Sage provides detailed, grid-based insights into crop behavior over different timeframes. By integrating generative AI, advanced crop and climate models, and Earth observation data, Sage helps customers make informed decisions about crop suitability and yield potential,” founder and CEO Krishna Kumar told Inc42.

Incorporated in 2010 by Krishna Kumar and Kunal Prasad, CropIn is a SaaS-based agtech startup which helps farm-to-fork businesses digitise their operations and make informed decisions that enhance farming efficiency, productivity and sustainability.

It claims to have partnered with more than 250 B2B customers, digitised 30 Mn acres of farmlands, benefitting over 7 Mn farmers worldwide.

CropIn Sage claims to generate a proprietary grid-based map for agricultural data, offering unparalleled scale, accuracy and speed. This transforms the way stakeholders understand crop dynamics, climate impacts, and optimal agricultural practices, enabling informed decisions in multiple languages. 

By offering detailed historical performance analysis and precise regional insights, Sage eliminates uncertainty in food production planning, enhancing efficiency and sustainability in agriculture, the company said in a statement.

This platform will help CPG players, seed manufacturers, food processors and governments to formulate informed decisions using historical, current and future data on crops, irrigation, climate and soil, thereby future-proofing production and supply chains. 

Enterprise customers can use Sage to gather intelligence across multiple geographic locations, focusing on 13 key crops such as wheat, rice, potato, and maize, which collectively account for nearly 80% of global food demand, it added. 

The platform aims to deploy globally in phases to meet enterprise demand. Currently B2B, CropIn’s platform will soon expand to B2C. 

Beyond this, Sage will forecast future crop yields using advanced AI, pinpointing optimal global locations and conditions for cultivation to enhance food system resilience and sustainability.

Sage utilises Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) to scale operations dynamically, handling large data volumes in real-time. Additionally, it employs the Gemini Flash 1.5 model to convert user queries into SQL queries, facilitating the generation of user-friendly, visually appealing, grid-based data across various temporal frequencies tailored to customer needs.

Another user case of Sage is that it acts as a crucial defense for global food systems, providing intelligence to address crop performance issues promptly and secure supply chains for food manufacturers, particularly in challenging seasons, added Kumar.

With the platform’s launch, the founder anticipates increasing the customer base by 50% over the next 2-3 years and aims to double the revenue.

“Sage is poised to address pressing issues of food security and sustainability, positioning itself as a premium product in the years ahead,” the founder and CEO said.

The development comes months after CropIn introduced ‘aksara,’ an open-source micro language model aimed at supporting climate-smart agriculture. This solution targets issues faced by farmers in the global south, promoting sustainability by enabling the development of affordable and scalable AI solutions across the agriculture sector.

CropIn has raised a total of $47 Mn in funding to date, with $34 Mn raised in the last two rounds, of which approximately 40% was utilised to enhance intelligence capabilities and expand scalable assets.

In December 2022, the startup raised $14 Mn funding from a clutch of investors, including Google and JSR Corporation. Prior to that, in 2021, CropIn netted $20 Mn in its Series C funding round led by Singapore-based private equity firm and impact investor ABC World Asia.