A new $6 million infusion of investments is going to allow Rantizo, a spray drone service operator, to expand nationally its operator network for spray drone services and build on its new growth strategy.
Leaps by Bayer, the investment arm of Bayer, as well as Fulcrum Global Capital and Innova Memphis provided the latest round of financing. Rantizo CEO Mariah Scott told Agri-Pulse this will allow the new executive team to “really lean into our new growth strategy” to build the two-sided marketplace to connect demand and supply for spray drone services.
Scott joined Rantizo six months ago from Verizon Robotics, bringing her expertise from Verizon's successful acquisition of the drone management company Skyward.
She came on as part of a shift in management strategy to take Rantizo in the direction of software and services. Previously, the company had been more focused on hardware resale and on building custom hardware for spray booms for drones.
Scott said Rantizo operates the largest network of spray drone operators and is currently active in 30 states, doing business with about 20% of the top 50 ag retailers.
“Most ag retailers we talked to don’t have enough people to do the services they’re trying to provide now, let alone find somebody who wants to be a dedicated drone pilot and stay licensed, qualified and insured,” Scott said. “This is a way for the retailer to offer those services to their growers without needing to find the capital and find the labor to go have a dedicated drone program.”
Jan Bouten, partner at Innova Memphis, said in a news release, “The way Rantizo addresses farmers’ problems by seamlessly integrating drone services into existing workflows is a perfect fit for our FarmTech focused fund.”
Similar to ag retailers today contracting for a helicopter or fixed-wing applicator to spray fields, this is a similar model to provide another service to their grower customers. Scott added the drone also provides benefits to growers as it can fly over acres that have trees and waterways or maintain a safe distance between neighboring fields. It also can run when soils are wet.
Today, Scott said the drones service varying crops including hops, corn, sugarbeets, rice, soybeans with different inputs including pesticides, herbicides, insecticides and even spraying on cover crops.
Rantizo provides drone services for Simplot in the Pacific Northwest, more than tripling the acres treated for Simplot this past year.
It’s easy to be “in the know” about what’s happening in Washington, D.C. Sign up for a FREE month of Agri-Pulse news! Simply click here.
"Rantizo has been a great partner in servicing our grower customers," Jordan Hart, Simplot regional operations manager, said in a news release. "The drones utilized by Rantizo allow us to provide crop inputs on acres that otherwise may miss an application or go untreated due to poor or wet conditions. We look forward to building upon our current successes and growing this partnership across more of our geography."
“A common mantra you hear across agriculture is ‘we are going to have to do more, with less.’ We believe that autonomy is the future of modern agriculture, and the Rantizo best-in-class software platform, deep drone operator network, and experienced management team provide acceleration not only for the emerging 'spraying-as-a-service' industry but the entire agriculture automation sector as well," Kevin Lockett, partner at Fulcrum Global Capital, said in the release.
PJ Amini, Leaps by Bayer senior director, said they’re excited about the new leadership team at Rantizo. “They bring the deep and diverse experience across drones and agriculture required to effectively deploy the service and deliver on the strategy,” Amini said.
Scott remains optimistic on further expansion and utilization of drones as the robots of today on farms. “There are lots of other robots coming to the farm. These are the robots that are here today,” Scott said. “And we want to be the service network that can make it easy to deploy that tech into the field.”
For more news, visit www.Agri-Pulse.com.
