Disappointing exit for Israeli company that developed technology for testing the quality of vegetables and fruits
Israeli agritech company CropX is acquiring startup SCIO, which developed food quality testing technology. The deal is not considered a successful exit, as the acquisition price is estimated to be lower than the 64 million dollars the company raised.
The Israeli agritech company CropX is acquiring the startup SCIO, which developed technology for testing the quality and composition of food and agricultural produce in the field. The acquisition is not a successful exit for SCIO, as it has raised 64 million dollars since its inception, and the acquisition amount, according to estimates, is lower than that.
The companies stated that the acquisition expands CropX's capabilities throughout the entire growth cycle, from the soil and crop development up to the harvest, quality testing of the produce, and subsequent stages. SCIO was founded in 2011 in Israel by Asaf Karmi and Damian Goldring under the name Consumer Physics. The company's headquarters is located in Israel, and it operates in the agricultural and food sectors. SCIO's innovative technology is protected by 44 different patents and allows for rapid measurements of the quality and composition of agricultural produce in the field without traditional laboratory tests.
CropX was founded in 2015 and operates in more than 70 countries. The company has raised over 60 million dollars to date; among its strategic and financial investors are OurCrowd, NEC Corporation, Aliaxis, Innovation Endeavors, and Finistere Ventures. This is the eighth and most significant acquisition to date, which expands the platform's capabilities beyond management and field cultivation to include the analysis of the quality and composition of agricultural produce.
"The future of agronomy is not just about providing recommendations, but about the ability to learn from the results. SCIO provides us with the missing piece. By connecting agronomic recommendations with harvest results and produce quality, we are laying the foundation for a new generation of agronomic intelligence and accelerating our vision to build the most comprehensive intelligence platform in the agricultural world," says Tomer Tzach, CEO of CropX.
