Boosted by new Agco deal, growing Agribotix moving to larger Boulder space

BOULDER – Agribotix, which provides data analytics and makes drones for precision agriculture, is moving its headquarters to a larger Boulder location to accommodate rapid growth that is due in part to a new deal to feature the company’s technology at 1,600 Agco Corp. dealerships in North America.

Agribotix director of business development Jason Barton said Monday that the company is in the process of moving into a roughly 3,500-square-foot space at Boulder Municipal Airport that is about triple the size of the company’s spot at 2983 Sterling Court.

The year-and-a-half-old company has doubled in size to 20 employees over the past two and a half months as demand for its technology has taken flight. Agribotix provides cloud-based analysis of data gathered from fields by drones to help farmers optimize their use of things such as fertilizer and herbicides to increase crop yields. The company sells the analytics as a service to customers with their own drones, as well as a turnkey system that includes a drone and cameras.

Agco (NYSE: AGCO), a major manufacturer and distributor of farm equipment based in Georgia whose brands include Massey Ferguson, announced the new deal with Agribotix and California-based 3D Robotics last week. As part of the deal, Agco will sell a 3D Robotics quadcopter drone that is equipped with both a standard visual camera and a near-infrared camera. The Solo Agco Edition, which sells for $5,999, will come with one year of Agribotix data analytics included.

The Solo Agco Edition is similar to the turnkey systems that Agribotix sells itself for $9,500. The differences are that the version that Agribotix sells itself is assembled in Boulder from off-the-shelf parts, is capable of carrying both cameras at once, and has better battery life. But the core product of Agribotix since early in its existence has been its data-analytics offering rather than drones themselves, and the Agco deal gives Agribotix major exposure it didn’t have before.

“Having a partnership with a company like Agco is obviously a huge step,” Barton said. “It’s going to get our product and name more widely distributed.”

Farmers or companies that aim to fly drones for commercial purposes must receive case-by-case authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration until formal regulations on such uses are finalized.

Agribotix essentially had been in product-development mode until just a few months ago when inbound sales inquiries began flowing in in earnest. The company just ramped up outbound sales efforts about a month ago. Agribotix sells its products all over the United States, Latin America, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and East Asia, with roughly half to two-thirds of sales coming in the United States.

The Agco announcement came the same week that Agribotix announced that it was launching a joint venture with Eco BCG to sell its products in Latin American countries. In addition to those deals, Agribotix has a partnership with a John Deere dealership in Australia that flies Agribotix’s drones as a service for farmers. Agribotix has an exclusive agent in East Asia as well.

Agribotix officials don’t disclose revenue, but the company, which recently named Lou Faust chief executive, is preparing for more growth. While Barton said the staff size is likely set for the near term, he said the firm will work on raising a Series A round of funding this fall that could trigger further expansion.

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