The Argentine agrotechnology startup Calice has secured a $1.5 million investment round aimed at boosting its growth in the local market as well as in Brazil and other countries in the region. Founded in late 2018 by Ramiro Olivera (CEO), Esteban Hernando (CSO), Andrés Rabinovich (CTO), and engineer Pablo Romero (COO/CFO), the company has created a platform called Nodes that aims to transform agriculture through simulations with artificial intelligence. Calice's technology allows for virtual field trials that accurately predict the development and behavior of new crops.
Calice had previously received an investment round of $750,000 in 2023 from angel investors. The startup employs 15 professionals dedicated to the digitization of field trials, and its primary competitive advantage lies in the ability of the Nodes platform to reduce the time and costs associated with validating new agricultural solutions.
The $1.5 million investment was led by the Draper Cygnus fund, with participation from Innventure, Xperiment Ventures, Air Capital, and the Australian GrainCorp Ventures through Artesian. They project that Calice's technology could reduce the need for physical trials by up to 80% and shorten development times by 50%.
Calice's Nodes platform allows evaluation of the behavior of new varieties in diverse environments, optimizing crossing strategies and predicting the effectiveness of bioinoculants and biofertilizers before their implementation in real conditions, thus minimizing the uncertainty and environmental impact associated with traditional methods. After successful proof-of-concept trials with various crops, Calice expects to close contracts worth $800,000 this year, solidifying its position as a leader in applying artificial intelligence to the agricultural sector.
