In California, with a goal to offer service to 80 percent of U.S. irrigated agriculture by the end of 2017, TerrAvion raised $10 million in a Series A financing round led by Merus Capital. Currently, TerrAvion flights cover more than 20 million acres per week, and crops ranging from corn and soybeans to citrus and vineyard grapes. This funding will allow expansion in key agricultural areas including the Great Plains, Mississippi Delta and Pacific Northwest.
“TerrAvion is providing a valuable service to growers – helping them improve yields, lower costs and ultimately feed the world,” said Sean Dempsey, co-founder and managing director at Merus Capital.
TerrAvion uses manned aircraft to capture bird’s-eye views of farms and uploads the images to the cloud within hours. Its customers receive aerial photographs, plant vigor images, thermal images, custom color maps, underlying data, and histograms, at far greater detail than any other aerial imagery provider.