DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ag Tech and farm water management leader SWIIM System is proud to announce today that it has closed the first of two tranches of its Series B-1 extension offering to fund continued expansion of its water management platform. Proceeds will also be used to fund the recent acquisition of Fresno-based IoT technology company OnFarm Systems.
The first tranche of $3 million was led by the company’s current insiders and strategic partners. In addition, Western Growers has extended its strategic development agreement with SWIIM for an additional ten year period and will work with the company to expand the use of the OnFarm dashboard platform to better provide SWIIM’s core water balance data, as well as other to-be-determined data sources, for the benefit of Western Growers members.
“We continue to grow our relationship with Western Growers which began nearly four years ago through a handful of regional test pilots and now we continue to grow steadily throughout California and beyond,” said Kevin France, Chief Executive Officer of SWIIM. “I am humbled as to the trust that has been placed with us and we look forward to expanding service to growers in need of accurate water accounting services with exciting new offerings as a result of the SWIIM/OnFarm combination.”
“Our members throughout the West face mounting water supply reliability challenges along with increased regulatory scrutiny of their beneficial use of water,” said Dave Puglia, Executive Vice President of Western Growers. “Several years ago, we put SWIIM through the paces to determine how its unique water accounting platform could help our members protect their water rights and maximize their flexible use of water. Our confidence in those results produced a strategic partnership agreement two years ago, and this extension of our partnership with SWIIM further underscores our confidence in the benefits to our members of having highly accurate and comprehensive water use data.”
“With these recent events we are better positioned than ever to continue servicing growers, whether they are struggling with surface water supplies such as Colorado River allocations, or tackling challenging groundwater challenges with the latest SGMA (groundwater) compliance requirements throughout California,” said Ed Warner, Chairman of SWIIM.
SWIIM recently acquired Fresno-based OnFarm Systems - an online internet distribution and syndication platform. The transaction closed on July 16, 2018 at which time Lance Donny, the CEO of OnFarm, became SWIIM’s Chief Operating Officer. France remains CEO of the combined SWIIM/OnFarm companies.
“We are excited about the opportunity to work with Western Growers and their members to improve their water use,” said Lance Donny, COO of SWIIM and project lead on the OnFarm integration. “Farmers often state they want their data and systems to simplify their decision making and help them more easily achieve their operationally efficiency and management goals. The combined offering of OnFarm’s data integration technology and SWIIM’s water accounting is a compelling solution for Western Growers members and a solution they can trust in the long run.”
SWIIM was listed as a Top 25 Most Innovative Ag Tech Company by Forbes for two consecutive years, both in 2018 and 2017. Its multi-patented technology was developed over a 5-year period with the help of the USDA and several western land-grant universities. It is currently being deployed throughout the western US to help growers account and manage their agricultural water budgets and protect their water rights.
