Proveye, the company which focuses on remote sensing image analysis for agriculture, has closed a €1m seed funding round to advance its growth strategy.

Proveye, a University College Dublin (UCD) spin-out company headquartered at NovaUCD, makes it possible to significantly increase the accuracy and value of information from earth observation data across a wide array of remote sensing sources including satellites, drones, and ground-based sensors. It rapidly enhances and compiles selected image types into a single view, correcting for weather conditions, sunlight, and a range of other factors which usually make it difficult to isolate clear information to inform decisions on the ground.

The funding round was led by Inspire Investments, the private investment arm of Waystone’s management team, and Enterprise Ireland.

Artificial intelligence

Proveye combines image processing for multiple remote sensing sources with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

It is used by agricultural advisors, fertiliser and pesticide suppliers and food processors to provide fast and accurate information about productivity and sustainability on agricultural land to their farmer customers.

Tipping point

CEO of Waystone Derek Delaney said that the global food system is at a tipping point and Proveye is setting the standard for image-based precision agriculture.

“We see enormous potential for the company’s capabilities at a time where major companies are setting increasingly ambitious sustainability targets. Proveye’s technologies enable a leap forward in precision insights in a market that is ripe for innovation.”

Jerome O’Connell, CEO and founder, Proveye, said: “This investment comes at a time of rapid growth for the company as we demonstrate the value of a new generation of image-based analytics in agriculture. Our talented team is working with some of the leading names in the agriculture industry to solve challenges previously out of reach to substantially increase certainty and accuracy in management decisions at the field, farm and even regional scale.”

The funding will enable the company to grow its customer base, and capitalise on its proven technology to develop further solutions across grassland, arable crops, and into more specialist areas of image processing.