4th of July 2016, – South Central Ventures (Enterprise Innovation Fund – ENIF) invests in AGRIVI, a global agtech company with the vision to change the way food is produced and make a positive impact on more than 1 billion people by helping farmers to reach sustainable, resource-efficient and profitable production. The size of this series A investment round is €1 million. We live in a world in which food production is one of the major challenges of today, being completely inefficient and unable to respond to the global food needs (Global Food Report, IMECHE). Until quite recently, farming had not changed much for thousands of years.
AGRIVI aims to tackle these problems, by building agricultural software solutions that address all key stakeholders of the food production industry: farmers of all scales, cooperatives, vertical food production, and sourcing industry, governments, NGOs, and other stakeholders interested in improving agricultural production. The team has worked to create an intelligent but affordable technology in a form of a knowledge-based farm management software solution that significantly improves agricultural production results, making food production more efficient and sustainable. The solution is available on any device through its web application and mobile apps for iOS and Android.
Just one year after its inception, AGRIVI won the 1st prize on the World Startup Competition 2014 held on Nov. 24-25 in Seoul, Korea, as the project with the highest potential global impact. The unstoppable team continued working hard to position itself as the most complete farm management software on the market. Today, over 15.000 farmers from 150 countries have recognized its value and have started using it to improve their production. Agrivi’s strong global position and market recognition is confirmed by multiple global market research reports: Agrivi is listed as one of the key market players in three farm management software market researches in 2015 and was selected among the top 8 key global market leaders in the latest farm management software market research issued in June 2016.
“Global AgTech market is evolving rapidly and as we have managed to position among top key global industry players, market demand for our technology is very strong. Partnering with SCV helps us to multiply our operational capacity, keep the customer success rate at the highest level, and further speed up market expansion to bring our technology to as many farmers as possible. In the next period, we will focus on strong market penetration of key agricultural EU countries and positioning as a global leader in niche industry verticals serving customers worldwide.” – Matija Zulj, Founder, AGRIVI
Matija Zulj, an entrepreneur with strong business and ICT work and educational background, founded AGRIVI in 2013 in Kutina, Croatia. He was inspired to create the solution from the frustrations he had growing his own blueberry farm.
Today, AGRIVI brings together a multi-disciplinary and knowledgeable team with over 10+ years of experience in ICT, business development and agriculture that operate through offices in Kutina, Zagreb and London. From the very beginning, the company was supported by private investors who share a passion for disrupting the food production industry. SCV’s €1 million investment in AGRIVI is aimed to support the global expansion of the company with a vision to change the way food is produced and make a positive impact on more than 1 billion people.
“I can say we’re excited to have AGRIVI in our portfolio. The founder Matija and his team have big plans on their great mission to solve some of the World’s biggest challenges by helping the farming industry become technologically advanced and more efficient. We’re here to help them achieve this and it will be beneficial for a very large portion of global population if we succeed.“ – Jure Mikuž, Managing Partner, SCV
South Central Ventures (Enterprise Innovation Fund – ENIF) is a €40 million Fund, dedicated to investments in startups, small and medium tech-companies in Western Balkans. Investors in the Fund are diverse ranging from international financial institutions, such as EIF, EBRD, and KfW to regional corporations, private investors, and regional governments. ENIF aims to support the startup system in the region, and help founders daring to bring their businesses to global markets.
