Monsanto Company, a US-based agricultural products company, has agreed to acquire US-based insurance and risk management technology company The Climate Corporation for a cash purchase price of $930m.
The acquisition is intended to combine The Climate Corporation’s expertise in agriculture analytics and risk-management with Monsanto’s R&D capabilities, in order to provide farmers with access to more information about factors that affect the success of their crops.
The Climate Corporation was founded in 2006 by a team of software engineers and data scientists formerly with Google and other technology companies: previously known as WeatherBill until November 2011, the company raised $50m series C funding in June 2012 from investors including Google Ventures, $42m B funding in March 2011 from a group of investors, again including Google Ventures, and $12.5m series A funding in November 2007, after previous angel funding.
Hugh Grant, chairman and chief executive officer for Monsanto, said: “The Climate Corporation is focused on unlocking new value for the farm through data science. Everyone benefits when farmers are able to produce more with fewer resources. The Climate Corporation team brings leading expertise that will continue to greatly benefit farmers and their bottom-line, and we want to expand upon this tremendous work and broaden their reach to more crops and more world areas.”
David Friedberg, chief executive officer for The Climate Corporation, said: “Farmers around the world are challenged to make key decisions for their farms in the face of increasingly volatile weather, as well as a proliferation of information sources. Our team understands that the ability to turn data into actionable insight and farm management recommendations is vitally important for agriculture around the world and can greatly benefit farmers, regardless of farm size or their preferred farming methods.”
The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of Monsanto’s 2014 fiscal year.