Saudi Arabia-based agritech iyris closed a $16 million Series A fundraising round headed by Ecosystem Integrity Fund and supported by Global Ventures, Dubai Future District Fund, Kanoo Ventures, Globivest, and Bonaventure Capital.
The 2018 startup iyris, originally RedSea, addresses global food security issues while reducing environmental effect. The money will help iyris deliver its international sales pipeline for SecondSky greenhouse covers and nets and improve its heat-blocking technologies and resilient plant genetics.
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iyris (previously RedSea), an innovative AgriClimate Tech firm that helps growers worldwide enhance crop yields, reduce input costs and risk, and lengthen growing seasons in the most difficult agricultural regions, completed a $16 million Series A financing.
The investment was led by San Francisco-based climate and sustainability fund Ecosystem Integrity Fund, which supports high-growth environmentally friendly firms. The company received funding from Global Ventures, Dubai Future District Fund (DFDF), Kanoo Ventures, Globivest, and Bonaventure Capital.
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Sales coverage and iyris’ strong worldwide sales pipeline for SecondSky greenhouse coverings and nets will benefit from proceeds. It will also support its heat-blocking products and resilient plant genetics research. The funding supports iyris’ mission to empower farmers to sustainably mitigate climate change, solve food security, and meet UN Sustainable Development Goals.
John Keppler, Executive Chairperson of iyris, said, “We are building a great company, making it easier for farmers to grow fresh produce in increasingly difficult climates. There are few problems more challenging than feeding the world sustainably. iyris is assembling the necessary toolkit to help farmers improve crop yields with fewer resources.
“In just a very short time, we have brought our products to market and proven that they work. But we have a lot left to do, and the completion of our Series A fundraise enables us to take the next steps in expanding sales of our drop-in solutions for heat blocking and crop resilience to our grower customers around the world.”
Leading scientists and academics from Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology developed it’s scaled technologies.
The first technology, it’s SecondSky, available in several greenhouse covers and shade nets, reduces plant stress from near infrared heat radiation while enabling photosynthesis. This revolutionises agriculture by making crops more resilient, productive, and profitable in climate-change- and heat-stressed places.
Customers farming fresh produce in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, and North America buy SecondSky polycarbonate, polyethylene, nets, and soon-to-be-released shade screens from iy
Iyris has also produced plant genetics using a new hybridization procedure that can breed resistance to salinity, heat, and drought in a variety of crops, providing stress-resistant, reliable food supply. The system is showing promising results with some of the world’s largest tomato farmers in open-field trials.
Iyris serves a global greenhouse cover market of >$6 billion in recurring yearly sales, providing prolonged growing seasons, greater yields, resource savings, and food supply chain support to the planet and agriculture. Single crop cycle payback timeframes for iyris portfolio technology investments help farmers in its target markets.
About iyris
The goal of iyris is to use technology to feed the world sustainably.
