Rantizo, an Iowa City-based operator network for spray drone services, has announced an expansion of its oversubscribed Series A funding round.
Led by Leaps by Bayer, with Fulcrum Global Capital and Innova Memphis, the latest funding round will allow Ranzito’s new executive team to launch a new growth strategy.
“Our vision is to build a service network that puts autonomy to work in ag, starting with spray drone services,” Ranzito CEO Mariah Scott said in a release. “We are excited to expand our nationwide operator network, deploy our work management and as-applied map software, and continue our exponential growth in acres treated.”
Rantizo has more than doubled the total acres flown year-over-year, with operators in 30 states. Rantizo operators currently fly and apply with more than 20% of the Top 50 ag retailers, using spray drones to provide timely, local and precision application services for crops ranging from Arkansas rice to Iowa corn to Oregon hops and Idaho potatoes, enabling ag retailers to expand their services to growers.
“A common mantra you hear across agriculture is ‘we are going to have to do more, with less,’” Fulcrum Global Capital partner Kevin Lockett said. “We believe that autonomy is the future of modern agriculture, and the Rantizo best-in-class software platform, deep drone operator network, and experienced management team provide acceleration not only for the emerging ‘spraying-as-a-service’ industry but the entire agriculture automation sector as well.”
Up to 60% of ag retailers say their number one challenge within their operations is workforce availability. Another top five item on that list is the adoption and use of new technology. Rantizo provides a solution for both with a nationwide operator network, leading drone service and support, and job management software.
“The way Rantizo addresses farmers’ problems by seamlessly integrating drone services into existing workflows is a perfect fit for our FarmTech focused fund,” said Innova Memphis partner Jan Bouten.
“Rantizo has been a great partner in servicing our grower customers,” Simplot regional operations manager Jordan Hart added. “The drones utilized by Rantizo allow us to provide crop inputs on acres that otherwise may miss an application or go untreated due to poor or wet conditions. We look forward to building upon our current successes and growing this partnership across more of our geography.”
This year, Rantizo more than tripled the acres treated for Simplot, a result of the new strategy introduced by CEO Mariah Scott. Ms. Scott joined the company in April after leading Verizon Robotics and the successful acquisition of Skyward, a drone management company, by Verizon.
At Rantizo, she strengthened the executive team, bringing in leaders with extensive experience in software, service operations, agricultural sales and marketing, aviation, drones and finance.
“We are excited about the new leadership team at Rantizo,” Leaps by Bayer senior director PJ Amini said. “They bring the deep and diverse experience across drones and agriculture required to effectively deploy the service and deliver on the strategy.”
