Wagga Wagga Wi-Fi startup Zetifi secures $12M Series A with Telstra to help farmers connect
A regional NSW startup expanding Wi-Fi coverage on farms has raised $12 million in a Series A.
CEO and founder Dan Winson said the past few years have confirmed that the ag sector is eager to embrace digital technology and automation if they have the connectivity to support it.
“We approached the problem from the farmers’ perspective and the ability to test our ideas on the farm within minutes has accelerated the development of our products and technology,” he said.
“It has enabled us to quickly iterate and refine the scalable applications of our technology that we will now prepare for the mass market.”
Luke Harwood, head of innovation at Telstra, said they were “excited about the progress” made since muru-D.
“There is tremendous opportunity for technology to help Australian farmers increase agricultural production and play a greater role in Australia’s growing digital economy,” he said.
“Innovations like those developed by Zetifi and our other agtech investments that leverage our network and scale to the benefit of farmers, local jobs and local communities are great examples of the solutions we want to support.”
GrainCorp CEO Robert Spurway said connectivity is an important factor for modern agriculture.
“Australian farmers are early adopters of on-farm technological innovation and to their credit they remain at the forefront of digital advancement,” he said.
“GrainCorp Ventures is focused on identifying and accelerating the next generation of technologies that keep growers ahead of the competition, and that is what we are seeing in Zetifi. Many of the people at GrainCorp also live and work with growers and our customers in regional communities and experience connectivity issues firsthand, so partnering with Zetifi will help unlock significant value for the agricultural industry.”
Jonathon Quigley of Cultiv8 Funds Management said they doubled Zetifi, in part because of his own first-hand experience with their products.
“Dan took part in our SparkLabs Cultiv8 startup accelerator in 2019 and as a trial I had the very first ZetiRover installed in my car,” he said.
“The device has allowed me to stay connected during my regional travels by using it for video conferencing, phone calls, emails, messages, and even providing my primary business internet service during COVID lockdowns.”
