Hazel Technologies Named A Most Innovative Company in the Ag Space 2024

Hazel Technologies, a Serra Capital III portfolio company, was honored in March by Fast Company by being named to their 2024 “Most Innovative Companies in Agriculture” list. Hazel Technologies is developing new solutions to reduce waste in order to improve the efficiency of the fresh produce supply chain. The Hazel® Product Line is a suite of packaging inserts that extend the shelf life of ethylene sensitive produce.

Fast Company comments, “What makes the 2024 list of most innovative agriculture companies so impressive is that their products and services barely overlap, yet many could complement or even enhance the others.”

To view the full article, follow here.

Mast Reforestation Named to Time's Top Greentech Companies in America

Mast Reforestation, a Serra Capital Ag Tech Fund company, is being honored in the month of March by being named to Time Magazine’s “Top Greenwich Companies 2024” list. Mast Reforestation is restoring resilient forests after wildfires. They make reforestation scalable to mitigate the worst effects of climate change.

The green technology sector has represented a “beacon of hope” for investors and workers alike, and is one of the fastest growing sectors in the United States. According to TIME the 250 of America’s top sustainability-­focused companies are ranked based on their positive environmental impact, financial strength, and innovation, to see who is rising to the top of the field. To determine these, Statista analyzed data points such as value of the company's intellectual property portfolio, revenue and funding, and environmental data specific to each industry, such as carbon capture, offsets, and renewable energy generated.

To view the full list, follow here.

Vytelle Expands Presence in Nebraska Region with the Opening of its 17th Global Laboratory

Vytelle, a Serra Capital Ag Tech Fund company and also the fastest-growing in vitro fertilization (IVF) company, proudly announced in early March that it was opening its 8th US-based and 17th global laboratory, strategically located in Nebraska.

"Our expansion into the Nebraska region underscores our dedication to supporting the needs of our current and future customers by bringing our Vytelle ADVANCE™ solutions closer to home," said Kerryann Kocher, CEO of Vytelle. "We are excited to increase collaboration with producers in this cattle genetics hub, leveraging our expertise to optimize herd performance and drive sustainable agricultural practices."

To view the full story, follow here.

Conservation Labs: $7.5 Million In Series A Funding Raised

Conservation Labs, a Serra Capital III SBIC company, and the company that developed a groundbreaking platform that decodes audio data into actionable insights in the built environment to reduce carbon emissions and energy and water usage – announced that it had raised a $7.5-million Series A funding round. Serra also participated in the round.

“Conservation Labs’ innovative approach to water conservation provides an operational edge to its clients, and the real estate market opportunity for H2know is massive. With our investment, Conservation Labs will be fast-tracking its product development and go-to-market strategies for both of its core products,” said Mark Kovscek, CEO of Conservation Labs. “We’re excited to collaborate with Mark and the entire leadership team as they continue developing new commercial applications for their breakthrough technology.”

Colorfil’s NASA-Approved, Award-Winning Air Filters Expand to Retailers Nationwide

Colorfil (Serionix) had an exciting month in February as they announced two major partnerships. Colorful Air Filters are expanding nationwide with its products being sold through Chewy.com and Lowes.com.

Colorfil, the Nasa-approved air filter for pet odors, removes small particles from the air to eliminate pet odors and promote a healthy indoor environment. Colorfil’s air filter technology was originally designed by an aerospace company called Serionix in order to protect astronauts and spacecraft.

Colorfil received multiple industry awards after launching in the pet space, such as the first prize in the Dog Category at the SuperZoo New Product Showcase in 2023 and the Pet Innovation Award for “Stain & Odor Remover Product of the Year” for three years in a row.

Jim Langer, CEO of Serionix says “We’re so happy to be making our technology available to more pet homes.”

To view the full article, follow here.

HerdDogg and Breedr Unveil New Partnership

In exciting news in the month of January, two Serra portfolio companies - HerdDogg and Breedr, have announced a new partnership, which they unveiled at the NCBA Cattlecon event. HerdDogg, the leader in data-driven livestock management, and Breedr, the leader in precision livestock management, have integrated their solutions to help producers at every stage of the beef supply chain optimize operations and make more money from the animals they sell.

"We're excited to deliver our commercial solution to satisfy pent-up demand in the market for more effective data-driven livestock management," said Andrew Uden, HerdDogg CEO. "Our integration with Breedr will further enable HerdDogg to meet the needs of cow-calf, feedlot, and dairy and beef-on-dairy operations."

"The HerdDogg partnership offers us an exciting opportunity to add real-time health data in the supply chains we work with, reduce mortality, and improve the quality of beef being produced," said Ian Wheal, CEO and Founder of Breedr. "Future supply chains are already requiring tracking to this level, and we have the ability to support beef and beef-on-dairy supply chains."

To view the complete article, follow here.

Serra Ventures and Grondex International Partner Up for Next Ag & Food Tech Fund

Champaign, IL, January 9, 2024-- Serra Ventures, LLC, a Champaign-based venture capital firm with offices in San Diego, Chicago and Park City, announced in the first week of 2024 that it has partnered with Grondex International, B.V., a Netherlands-based farmland management firm, to create the Serra-Grondex Ag & Food Tech Fund II, LP.

The directors of Grondex, Joost Pennings and Peter Prins, bring a wealth of agriculture and finance experience to the relationship. They manage thousands of acres of farmland and farm operations for institutional investors in Europe. The three managing partners of Serra, Tim Hoerr, Dennis Beard and Rob Schultz, each boast more than a decade of venture experience in food and ag technology, having invested in over 50 ag tech start-ups since 2011. The partnership brings together two strong teams with over 150 years of collective experience that will work in tandem on all aspects of the Serra-Grondex Ag & Food Tech Fund II, including deal sourcing, financing transactions, and post-investment coaching of portfolio companies.

"We are very excited about this powerful partnership with Grondex. Joost Pennings is a world-renowned agricultural economist at Wageningen University and Former Faculty Excellence Professor at University of Illinois. His colleague Peter Prins is an experienced risk manager, data analytics expert and practitioner of cutting-edge farming techniques. We see tremendous value combining our ag tech venture expertise with this experienced team from the Netherlands, one of the world's leading ag and food ecosystems,” said Tim Hoerr, CEO of Serra Ventures. “As Europe’s leading regenerative farming asset manager, Grondex offers unmatched insight and reach into the Ag and Food space from a global perspective. We look forward to solving the world’s biggest problems in Ag and Food together.”

"We are thrilled to join forces with Serra Ventures,” says Peter Prins, co-director at Grondex International. “Our shared commitment to foster regenerative solutions in the Ag and Food Tech sector is more than a business venture; it's a step towards a healthy and sustainable future. We look forward to build upon Serra Ventures’ impressive track record and to extend Serra’s network to Europe. Together, we aim to support founders that transform the Ag and Food industry, fostering startup growth that benefits both the economy and the planet."

About Serra Ventures, LLC

Serra Ventures is a venture capital firm investing in early-stage technology companies throughout the U.S. and in selected international regions. Its most recent focus has been on the Ag Tech and Food Tech sectors. The profile of an ideal startup for consideration by Serra is a Series Seed Plus, A or B company that has successfully achieved product-market fit with a novel product offering and is demonstrating strong revenue growth.

Serra Ventures has offices in San Diego, Chicago, Park City, and Champaign, Illinois. The managing partners are former successful entrepreneurs who seek to serve their portfolio companies with real-world insight, hard work, and a valuable network. In addition to capital, Serra works alongside its entrepreneurs in all areas of growth from strategic planning and partnerships, through business development and capital formation. As portfolio companies scale, Serra co-invests with leading venture firms. For more information, visit www.serraventures.com.

About Grondex International, B.V.

Grondex is Europe’s leading regenerative farming asset manager based in the Netherlands. The firm purchases land and uses regenerative farming and rewilding practices to improve nature, reduce emissions and capture carbon. By doing so Grondex generates strong environmental and financial returns.

The Grondex directors support startup founders with a great network in the agricultural and food industries that includes key relationships with major food processors and retailers. Their unique knowledge of the supply chain – from farm to fork – brings a distinct competitive advantage to their constituents. For more information, visit www.grondex.com.

Serra Ventures Adds New Venture Partner Bruce Sommer

Serra Ventures is excited to announce the addition of Bruce Sommer as a Venture Partner. Specifically, Bruce will be intimately involved in the firm’s newest venture offering, Serra Capital Ag Tech Fund II, from fundraising to deal sourcing to serving portfolio companies.

The Serra Ventures team has been deeply involved in the Ag Tech category for over a decade, making its first investment in the space in 2010. The steady increase in quantity and quality of Ag Tech deals in the evaluation pipeline, along with some notable exits of its portfolio companies in the space, convinced the team in 2021 to create a standalone fund the singular focus of which is agriculture and agri-food technology. As the firm now launches its second flagship vehicle in the Ag Tech space, adding Mr. Sommer and other professionals will strengthen and deepen the team.

"Bruce is perhaps the most critical player in the venture ecosystem in Springfield, Illinois. He has created, developed and nurtured a robust angel network in Springfield and did the same in Boston. His extensive experience in venture will make him a valuable contributor to Serra. We are truly grateful that he has opted to join our team."

After starting three of his own companies, Bruce Sommer has led direct investments in over 40 businesses since 2004. He is also the managing partner of NextGen Ventures, a closely-held private equity and venture capital fund focused on a nascent technologies across a variety of industries. Bruce was a founding member of the Angel Capital Association and currently helps lead eCoast Angels, one of the oldest business angel groups in the U.S. He is also a member of other angel groups, including Central Illinois Angels.

Bruce has worked with hundreds of startup entrepreneurs and has been teaching entrepreneurship and venture capital at various U.S. and international universities for over 20 years. His work on the economic impact of early-stage venturing has been published across professional journals and popular media alike. Bruce is a member of the National Commission on Innovation and Competitiveness Frontiers and has been a co-founder of three non-profits with missional focus on building economically strong communities by empowering and resourcing startup-entrepreneurs who develop sustainable businesses that have a positive impact on society.

Two Serra Companies Evisort and Paystand Make the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 2023 List

November brought the 29th year of Deloitte honoring companies through their list “ Deloitte Technology Fast 500". This list honors the most innovative and fastest-growing companies across North America. The program recognizes the passion and dedication it takes to be an industry disrupter across the technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences, fintech, and energy tech sectors. And by joining this elite group, companies can receive increased visibility, brand recognition, and growth opportunities.

Serra is excited to have two of our portfolio companies - Evisort and Paystand on this list, at number 53 and 210 out of 500. To view the complete list, follow here.

Hypercell Technologies Wins $1 Million Prize in Grow-NY Competition

Hypercell Technologies, a Serra Capital Ag Tech Fund portfolio company, was chosen as the grand prize winner at Grow-NY competition on November 15, 2023.

Hypercell provides rapid point-of-care diagnostics for the food chain, ensuring early identification and management of biological contaminants from production to transformation with increased speed and accuracy. Grow-NY’s competition is open to international startups that meet the Grow-NY definition of ‘Food and Agricultural Field,’ are early-stage, and have a scalable business model.

Bruno Jactel, CEO and co-founder of Hypercell enthused, “We’re excited to scale our business of rapid point-of-care diagnostics to improve the food chain in the Grow-NY region.”

To learn more, follow here.

VeriSim Life Receives Two Major Accolades in November

What a tremendous quarter it has been for Serra III and SBIC company VeriSIM Life - the leading artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled, unique R&D decisions de-risker for breakthrough drug development.

Within the same week in November, the company announced it had won two major accolades. The company was named “Predictive Analytics Solution of the Year” at the 2023 BioTech Breakthrough Awards on November 9. This is the second year in a row that VeriSIM has received this award in the same category. BioTech Breakthrough is a leading independent marketing intelligence organization that evaluates and recognizes standout life sciences and biotechnology companies, products, and services around the globe.

On November 14, VeriSIM announced its Founder and CEO, Jo Varshney, has been awarded the Gold Stevie® Award in the healthcare category in the 20th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business. The Stevie Awards honor the world's top women entrepreneurs, executives, employees, and the organizations they run. This year's Stevie Awards for Women in Business received more than 1,600 nominations by organizations and individuals for consideration across 100 categories.

Jo enthused “I am honored to be chosen as the 2023 recipient of the Gold Stevie Award alongside so many influential women in the healthcare field from all over the world. This award is a testament to each woman who has dedicated their lives to innovation in the healthcare industry.”

We are a firm believer in the team at VeriSIM and their innovative solution for solving complex problems in drug development. Our hat's off to you, Jo! Proud to be your partner in changing the world.

Serra Capital Hosts 12th Annual Limited Partners Meeting

November 8, 2023 marked our 12th annual Serra Capital Limited Partners meeting. The meeting was held at a fabulous new location that was once a street trolley "barn" -- Carmon's in downtown Champaign. Serra enjoyed seeing dozens of Limited Partners in attendance in person (and we were pleased to accommodate those who couldn't attend by providing video downloads thereafter).

The agenda featured a high level view of the macroeconomy and "the state of venture capital", an update on all of the Serra funds, presentations from portfolio company CEOs Ian Wheal of Breedr and Andrew Uden of HerdDogg, a fireside chat with Chris Harbourt of Indigo Ag, and a panel discussion with Ian, Andrew and Chris. Thank you to our presenters for traveling from afar to join us for the meeting!

Bonsai Robotics Announces $10.5M Round

Bonsai Robotics, the company that is providing vision-based automation solutions to combat growers’ biggest challenge that is the labor crisis, announced in early October a $10.5 million seed round, led by Acre Venture Partners, with participation from Serra Ventures.

CEO Tyler Niday tells TechCrunch, “Robotics companies require more capital earlier in their lifecycle to come to market as we have product and a sales model that is more complex than the average SaaS company — we’ve observed many robotics companies fail from lack of capital early in their lifecycle and we’re determined to be here for the long run.”

To view the entire article, follow here.

Serra Company WebCareHealth Acquired by Coachcare

WebCareHealth, a Serra III (SBIC) Fund portfolio company has been acquired by CoachCare, a leading remote patient monitoring (RPM) and virtual health company. The acquisition represents CoachCare’s third acquisition in eight months.

Founded in 2013, WebCareHealth’s expertise will add unique at-home international normalized ratio (INR) blood testing and monitoring capabilities to CoachCare’s suite of RPM, chronic care management and other services.

One of the fastest growing digital health offerings, by 2027, worldwide RPM growth could rise from $53.6B to $175.2B - with factors like the growing older adult population and the monitoring of specialized medicine to patients in between physician office visits.

"This acquisition bodes well for the shareholders of WebCareHealth as CoachCare is growing rapidly in the very hot space of virtual health technology. We offer our congratulations to CEO Teresa Sieck and her team, and we look forward to CoachCare's success!", commented Tim Hoerr, Serra Ventures Managing Partner.

Serra Venture Partner Karin O’Connor Offers Insights to Inc Magazine

Karin O’Connor, a Venture Partner with Serra, was interviewed by Inc Magazine and quoted in a piece called “3 Companies on the Scrappy Tactics They Used to Scale Up.” She offers insights about scaling up startups and understanding the market.

O'Connor says: "You can waste a lot of money trying to grow in a market that you didn't want your product or doesn't understand it." Thus, try to test your business model "in low capital, low risk ways" before you try to grow, she adds.

Karin is also a clinical associate professor of strategy at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management and an investor. She has been with Serra since 2017.

To view the full article, follow here.

IUNU Named 2023 AI-based AgTech Innovation of the Year

IUNU, a Serra Capital III SBIC and Serra Ag Tech Fund company, was recently named 2023 AI-based AgTech Innovation of the Year by AgTech Breakthrough Awards. The AgTech Breakthrough Awards recognize companies and solutions that demonstrate outstanding achievement and innovation in agriculture. IUNU's AI-driven solutions have redefined the landscape of CEA by enabling growers to optimize their cultivation processes with unmatched precision and efficiency. By utilizing advanced AI algorithms, IUNU's platform empowers farmers to monitor and manage critical vegetative growth metrics.

"We are honored to be recognized for our efforts in leveraging AI to drive innovation and create a more resilient and efficient food supply chain," said Adam Greenberg, CEO of IUNU.

To view the full article, follow here.

Three Serra Companies Featured on Inc 5000 List

Inc Magazine releases an annual list of the fastest growing companies in America, and the team at Serra was very pleased to have three companies represented on this years list. Inc says this about the list this year: “$358 billion in 2022 revenue. 1,187,266 jobs created. And 5,000 examples of how to scale your business. Nowhere else will you find a list of companies with a greater impact on the U.S. economy.”

Paystand, the B2B platform payments company, has been featured on this list for the past 5 years in a row! They came in at #882.

Evisort, the AI contracts company, came in at an impressive #178.

Colorfil (the product made by Serionix), the company that makes color-shifting air filters, came in at #752.

To view the full list, follow here.

Smart Apply Acquired by John Deere

The team at Serra is very pleased to announce the acquisition of Smart Apply, Inc., a precision spraying equipment company based in Indianapolis, by John Deere on July 14, 2023. The company experienced rapid growth in 2022 and 2023, primarily selling its unique chemical-saving technology through John Deere dealers. "We offer our hearty congratulations to the team at Smart Apply," said Tim Hoerr, Managing Partner of Serra. "The team made some pivotal moves in 2022 that conveyed to us they were locked into the right go-to-market approach. John Deere was a valuable partner on Smart Apply's journey as they recognized the unique value-add that Smart Apply brought to their dealers and end-users."

Smart Apply, Inc. developed the Smart Apply Intelligent Spray Control System™, an upgrade kit that can improve the precision and performance of virtually any air-blast sprayer used in orchard, vineyard, and tree nursery spraying applications. Smart Apply helps growers reduce chemical use, airborne drift, and run off, while optimizing high-value crop yields and meeting sustainability objectives.

Serra Capital Ag Tech Fund, LP invested in Smart Apply’s Series A investment round in August 2022 with a follow-up investment in December 2022. Jerry Johnson, CEO, commented, "Serra is an excellent business partner and well-respected in the VC community. Upon announcing their investment in Smart Apply, other investors joined and completed the round in one week. During our review of the 2023 business plan and seeing that cash was tight at the end of the first quarter, Serra volunteered to provide additional funding. We accepted the gracious offer and have been able to fund growth exceeding plan year to date. I couldn’t ask for a better partnership.”

Opendorse Makes Key Partnerships in Month of May

Opendorse, one of the largest NIL marketplaces catering to over 100,000 athletes nationwide, has joined with three major organizations in the month of May as it expands its footprint in unique NIL opportunities. Opendorse announced that it has partnered with Keller-Williams, Gold’s Gym, and Spyre Sports group, some of the most recognizable names in their industries.

Opendorse continues to expand into new schools and markets at an ever increasing pace. “This partnership is a great example of how impactful NIL can be for college athletes,” said Opendorse CEO Blake about Keller Williams. “Real estate careers and investment have been a popular path for athletes for years. Now, with help from Keller Williams and NIL Real Estate, athletes can get a jump on their future with support from the pros.”

Paystand CEO Named 2023 EY Bay Area Entrepreneur Of The Year Award Finalist

Jeremy Almond, CEO of Serra company Paystand, the leading blockchain-enabled B2B payment network, was named an Ernst and Young (EY) Entrepreneur of the Year 2023 Award Finalist. 37 years running, EY is one of the preeminent competitive business awards for transformative entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies who are building a more equitable, sustainable and prosperous world for all.

"I'm proud of the progress we have made since our early days, with more than 600,000 businesses making payments over the Paystand Network," said Almond. "Paystand is driving forward innovation in the B2B payment sector, helping businesses scale without limits and contributing to a thriving economy designed to benefit all who participate within it. Being named an EY Finalist is a gratifying confirmation of the years of work."

Paystand is a Serra Capital II and Serra Capital II Follow-On-Fund company.