USA – Strella Biotechnology, a Philadelphia, PA-based early stage agriculture technology company, raised $3.3m in seed funding.
The round was led by Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley, the strategic business development and investment arm of Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. (Tokyo: 7272) and Catapult Ventures with participation from Union Labs, Mark Cuban Red & Blue Ventures, and Art Mesher. The company intends to use the funds for product expansion into the retail distribution market, refining its technology for on-pallet sensing to allow data streaming throughout transportation to ensure better product selection by distributors and product quality at delivery to grocery stores. Led by Katherine Sizov, CEO, Strella Biotech has developed a tech platform that combines novel IoT biosensors with actionable insights to maximize freshness and reduce spoilage of fruit. To date, the company has monitored nearly 150 million fruits in the packing segment of the supply chain, where some fruits are stored for up to a year to accommodate for demand. Fruit packers use the technology to predict fruit maturation in storage and schedule shipments to retailers, resulting in reduced food spoilage. 04/05/2020
