Dtac helps farm-aid startup Ricult towards $2.5m in funding
Agricultural technology startup Ricult has raised US$1.85 million in its latest seed-funding round led by Dtac accelerate, Chanwanich Group, Wavemaker and 500 Tuktuks.
Ricult had previously raised $600,000, including a $100,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
This brings the company’s total funding to date close to $2.5 million.
Ricult is a digital platform to increase the efficiency of the agricultural value chain in developing countries, helping lift smallholder farmers out of poverty.
Ricult has already launched in Thailand and Pakistan, providing farmers with tools that employ machine learning to analyse satellite imagery and microclimate weather data.
The data allow farmers to better predict crop yields, pest prevention, proper fertilisation, key harvesting times and optimal crop rotations.
Ricult was established at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and began pilots in 2016 as part of the prestigious MIT Delta V accelerator programme.
Ricult was founded by four MIT alumni coming in from Microsoft, Google, Accenture and Telenor, a major shareholder of Dtac.
