Fresh from recording a big $380 million profit last financial year, GrainCorp has ramped up its income diversification efforts with a strategic investment in rural connectivity business, Zetifi.
The east coast grain handling, processing and marketing giant has joined Telstra as the co-leader in a $12 million funding round to support the expansion of southern NSW-based Zetify's long range Wi-Fi business.
Zetify's technology helps plug coverage gaps in regional areas by extending the range of existing 4G digital and satellite signal networks on farms, or wherever connectivity is unreliable.
Products include its ZetiRover, a Wi-Fi hotspot transmitter for vehicles and farm machinery which converts patchy coverage for phone calls, video and data transfers, and the stationary ZetiCell which provides broadband connections to digital devices in homes, farm workshops or other spots where mobile coverage is poor.
The Wagga Wagga-based company has built much of its business model on helping bridge the digital connectivity gap for farmers.
It now wants to double its software and product teams, increase manufacturing capacity and break into the US market by 2023-24.
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GrainCorp is paying for its Zetifi stake from its recently launched $30m GrainCorp Ventures fund.
The ventures pool has scope to spend up to $4m on selected agriculture sector start-ups developing software, machinery or new business models which benefit farmers and food production.
The latest spending splash follows GrainCorp directing new technology investment support to the seaweed-based methane blocking stockfeed enterprise, FututreFeed, and fake meat producer, V2food, during the past two years.
Its increased focus on agtech initiatives also saw GrainCorp invest in the four-year-old grain, wine and soil carbon spectroscopy monitoring company, Hone.
GrainCorp Ventures focuses on identifying and accelerating the next generation of technologies that will keep growers ahead of the competition, and that's what we see in Zetifi
- Robert Spurway, GrainCorp
Commenting on the grain company's interest in Zetifi, managing director, Robert Spurway, noted connectivity was a key enabler for the advancement of modern agriculture.
Zetify's long range Wi-Fi coverage extension products were addressing a major barrier to the digitalisation of agriculture.
"GrainCorp Ventures focuses on identifying and accelerating the next generation of technologies that will keep growers ahead of the competition, and that's what we see in Zetifi," he said.
"Many people at GrainCorp also live and work alongside growers and our customers in regional communities and experience connectivity issues first hand, so we can see how partnering with Zetifi will help to unlock significant value for the ag sector."
The connectivity company also believed it could unlock significant digital value on-farm.
Eager digital adopters
"Our experiences in the past few years confirm agriculture and the ag services sectors are eager to adopt digital technology and automation, as long as they have a connectivity solution that supports it," said Zetifi chief executive officer and founder, Dan Winson.
He attributed much of Zetifi's success to its regional roots, and its focus on the unique connectivity needs of agriculture and remote areas.
"We approached the problem from the farmers' perspective and the ability to be on-farm testing our ideas within a few minutes has accelerated the development of our products and technology," Mr Winson said.
"It's allowed us to rapidly iterate and refine the scalable applications of our technology that we'll now be preparing for the mass-market."
Zetifi's early funding supporters have been the Orange-based food and agricultural sector investor, Cultiv8 Funds Management; the Grains Research and Development Corporation's $50m Graininnovate Fund, and alternative investment group, Artesian, which manages money for superannuation, insurance, financial planning and government investors.
Critical connectivity
GRDC managing director, Nigel Hart, said connectivity remained a major issue in rural and regional Australia and investment in new technology and solutions through companies like Zetifi was critical for the grains industry.
Because precision agriculture was an integral part of grain farming, GRDC was committed to supporting or improving connectivity.
"Growers are utilising technology every day to improve on-farm production - from record keeping, to making informed, data driven decisions on things like real-time kinematic positioning, input calculations and seed distribution," he said.
"Increasing innovation depends on having a reliable connection on-farm, so the work companies such as Zetifi do is critical for the grains industry's future."
Telstra said its investment also reflected commitment to supporting connectivity and innovation for the benefit of regional and remote communities.
A start-up success
Head of Telstra's early-stage investment arm, muru-D, Luke Harwood, said the big telco's ties with Zetifi went back to 2019 when the business was part of the muru-D start-up accelerator program.
"We're thrilled to see the progress the team has made since then and the support we can provide as they scale," he said
"There is massive opportunity for technology to help Aussie farmers boost agricultural output and play a bigger part in Australia's growing digital economy.
"Innovations like this, and our other agtech investments that leverage our network and scale for the benefit of farmers and local communities are great examples of the solutions we want to support."
Zetifi's progress has also been backed by previous NSW and Commonwealth government funding support to develop, test and commercialise its technology.
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Andrew Marshall
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
