Montréal-based agtech startup ChrysaLabs, which provides soil-testing technologies, has raised a $15-million CAD funding round.
Leaps by Bayer, TELUS Ventures, and BDC Capital are among the new investors that participated in this round. It also saw the participation of existing investors Ecofuel, Emmertech, Anges Québec, AQC and Koan Capital.
Founded in 2017, ChrysaLabs offers a sampling probe that can help farmers unearth deeper insights into their soil. According to ChrysaLabs, the probe can analyze 40 different soil parameters, using artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver real-time insights.
ChrysaLabs aims to expand into the carbon verification market to help more farmers access accurate soil data.
Within 30 seconds of the probe being buried in the ground, ChrysaLabs claims its technology can provide a complete soil analysis that includes information on macronutrients, micronutrients, pH, organic matter, cation exchange capacity, organic carbon, bulk density, and moisture, among other factors.
Additionally, ChrysaLabs offers a mobile app that automatically georeferences every soil sample to create maps that allow agricultural workers to track parts of their field that need more or less fertilizer.
Samuel Fournier, co-founder and CEO of ChrysaLabs, said the agriculture industry is greatly in need of accurate soil data. With this funding, Fournier said ChrysaLabs can propel its expansion into the market for verifying carbon-offset programs and help more farmers access “ground truth soil information.”
Using accurate data, ChrysaLabs said producers can make more precise decisions, increase their yield, and reduce costs.
To date, ChrysaLabs claims its technology has been used on more than two million acres across seven countries, six Canadian provinces, and 25 American states.
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Per Crunchbase data, ChrysaLabs has raised over $21 million in total funding to date. This includes a $1.3-million CAD seed round and $1.6-million financial contribution from Sustainable Development Technology Canada in 2021.
ChrysaLabs is part of a rising trend for use of AI and machine learning in soil testing. As more industries increasingly implement AI into their processes, the agriculture sector is adopting the technology to automate parts of their soil analysis.
In Canada, ChrysaLabs is joined in the space by Vancouver-based Terramera, which formed a new subsidiary earlier this year for its soil-composition analysis business; as well as Croptimistic, which is also located in British Columbia.