Sentera
Sentera is a drone mapping company that provides spatial maps to growers.
- Total Raised
- $53.0 million
- Latest Round
- Series C
Investors
AgFunder, Continental Grain, Middleland Capital, S2G Ventures.
Summary
Sentera is a full-stack drone mapping company that provides growers with spatial maps and alerts for stand count, nitrogen stress, pest and disease. The CEO headed Lockheed Martin’s UAV division which he grew from startup to $110M in revenues in eight years.
Why We Invested
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The most advanced solution we’ve seen in row crops.
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Preferred platform of major companies like John Deere, Bayer, and other major agribusinesses.
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Sentera is a full stack solution that produces drones, spectral cameras, and performs analyses which gives them a strong edge over competitors that have to rely on commodity hardware and components that lack Sentera's power and specificity.
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Very strong network of agtech focused co-investors.
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Impressive revenue, sales growth, and minimal customer churn.
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Team has demonstrated both technical and commercial excellence with extremely positive feedback from end users.
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Tracking a pipeline of double digit million revenues for 2019
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High probability for an exit at an attractive multiple.
Contact Sentera
Team
Eric Taipale
CEO/Cofounder
Eric has over 20 years of experience in leading teams in advancing remote-sensing and precision navigation technologies. Prior to founding Sentera, Eric was the Chief Technology Officer at FourthWing Sensors, designing and manufacturing sensors for aircraft systems. Prior to FourthWing, Eric held several senior technical, business development, and program management roles at Lockheed Martin; most recently serving as Chief Engineer of the Unmanned Solutions business area, growing the division from startup to $35M in revenue in under 4 years and to $110M in 8 years.Eric holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Minnesota, and a Master of Science in Software Engineering from the University of Arizona.
Greg Emerick
EVP of Business Development
Greg leads effort to support the go-to-market strategy, sales channel development and strategic partnerships of sensors, drones, software products, and training programs across market verticals, as well as implementing marketing strategies to support sales and distribution. Prior to Sentera, Greg was the VP of Sales for North America at FourthWing Sensors. Earlier positions include owner and president of an agricultural supply company and senior sales and marketing roles in electronics manufacturing companies.Greg chairs the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) Unmanned Ariel Systems (UAS) Committee, and is the lead author of NATE’s UAS best practices paper. Greg holds a Bachelor of Science in Aviation from St. Cloud State University.
Alex Stephens
Chief Systems Engineer
Alex leads the hardware and systems engineering function at Sentera. Prior to Sentera, Alex held several senior engineering roles at FourthWings Sensor, UTC Aerospace Systems, Goodrich and Lockheed Martin. Alex holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from University of Minnesota.
Reid Plumbo
Director of Software Products
Reid leads the software development at Sentera, specifically on the drone analytics platform on mobile, web, desktop and related APIs. Prior to Sentera, Reid held a number of product development roles at Target, most recently as Lead ProductDevelopment Manager. Prior to Target, Reid was a Senior Systems Engineer at Lockheed Martin.Reid holds a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics from University of Minnesota.
Dimitrios Zermas
Principal Scientist
Dimitrios leads Sentera’s machine learning, computer vision and data science team. His research and industrial experience includes a variety of nutrition, crop protection and crop status estimation techniques in remote sensing, control and automation. Dimitrios holds a Bachelor of Science and PhD in Computer Science from University of Minnesota, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from University of Patras Panepistimion Patron.