April 14, 2016, Updated November 18, 2021

Robert Bosch Venture Capital and the Flex technology accelerator Lab IX have joined a $10 Series A round in CropX, an Israeli provider of advanced adaptive irrigation technology currently in use on 20 American farms.

CropX CEO Isaac Bentwich said the Tel Aviv-based company plans to use the strategic partnerships to accelerate product development and rapidly expand market reach.

This week, CropX also unveiled a new version of its soil sensors that drastically reduces installation time from 20 minutes to four minutes.

CropX’s proprietary science helps farmers better understand water usage across their fields. Its low-cost soil sensors can increase crop yields while cutting water usage by one third. Early adopters across the United States report significant water, manpower and cost savings, as well as gains in their yield from all major row crops.

“CropX gives farmers a fast and simple way to know the exact water needs and best irrigation plan of different parts of each field. Its pay-as-you-go service model makes it easy for farmers to quickly test the platform, realize its value and scale across more fields, crops and farms,” said Jan Westerhues, investment partner at Robert Bosch Venture Capital.

Finistere Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, GreenSoil Investments and OurCrowd led the investment round, which was extended from $9 million to $10 million to accommodate investor interest.

“Our vision goes far beyond row crops,” said Bentwich. “We want to make adaptive irrigation a global endeavor, and you can only do that by moving the lab into the soil and the resulting data into the cloud.”

Bentwich said the sensor system ultimately is not only for farms. It could be installed in golf courses and “smart” home gardens, for example. “Adaptive irrigation has the potential to save billions of gallons of water each year while driving better outcomes for farmers, business and consumers alike.”

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