Provision extends food tech software reach through acquisition of Crop Boss

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Calgary-based food safety software startup, Provision, has acquired Crop Boss farm management software from Platinum Agriculture Solutions.

The purchase price of the deal was not disclosed. A spokesperson for Provision told BetaKit the deal consisted of cash and equity.

Following the deal, Crop Boss will now be known as Provision Producer.

Provision was founded in 2018 and currently employs approximately 20 staff in its Calgary office. The startup’s software automates food safety processes and links granular process data with production results, generating analytics that reduce food loss and quality deviations.

Provision claims to have grown its revenue from client contracts by 20 times in 2020. Provision also claims to be the software provider for 51 percent of fresh and frozen food in Canada.

The company recently graduated from the Creative Destruction Lab’s Recovery program and created a pandemic-specific software that tracks food workers for COVID-19 symptoms and potential exposure.

Provision Producer will integrate with Provision’s software, which manages food safety and quality control for food processors, manufacturers, and transporters. Crop Boss will now be known as Provision Producer as part of the Provision software suite. Following the deal, Crop Boss’ software engineers will join Provision in full-time roles, Provision told BetaKit.

“By connecting farm fundamentals with the rest of the supply chain, we’re enabling seamless understanding of food safety and compliance with end-to-end traceability,” said Erik Westblom, co-founder and CEO of Provision. “Processors, manufacturers, and transporters recognize that variables exist not only within their operation, but in the stages that precede them.”

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Crop Boss was created by a grain farmer to address the inefficiencies of typical farm management. The company centralizes business functions such as inventory, financials, and insurance, with operating functions such as crop shares, chemical tracking, and agronomy reporting.

“We share Provision’s passion for deep traceability, which enables farmers to connect process variables with business outcomes, making data-driven decisions to enhance food quality and economics,” said Larry Woolliams, president and CEO of Platinum Agriculture Solutions, who is now a special advisor for Provision Producer.

Provision plans to make its Producer software available to farms in early 2021 for a flat monthly rate.

Image source Unsplash. Photo by Travis Essinger.

Isabelle Kirkwood

Isabelle Kirkwood

Isabelle is a Vancouver-based writer with 5+ years of experience in communications and journalism and a lifelong passion for telling stories. For over two years, she has reported on all sides of the Canadian startup ecosystem, from landmark venture deals to public policy, telling the stories of the founders putting Canadian tech on the map.

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