Deere & Co. has purchased Sentera, a St. Paul, Minnesota-based agriculture startup that uses smart imagery technology to monitor crop health via drone cameras.
The acquisition, announced May 23, allows the John Deere tractor maker to integrate Sentera’s technologies into its digital farm management system to help farmers make more data-backed decisions.
Drones equipped with Sentera’s cameras can fly over fields at high speeds and take high-resolution images that are then processed to generate digital maps that locate harmful weeds and pests, assess crop health and identify any disease pressures, according to Deere.
After partnering with Sentera for the past decade, Deere moved forward with the acquisition to bolster its precision agriculture capabilities during a period of slow demand for tractors and combines.
Sentera’s team will join Deere as part of the acquisition, a spokesperson confirmed in an email, saying that approximately 50 U.S.-based employees were extended offers. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Combining Sentera’s imagery capabilities with the John Deere Operations Center will enable farmers and trusted advisors to seamlessly gather and integrate agronomic data, understand real-time conditions, and turn data into insights that drive decisions in the field throughout the growing season,” Chris Winkler, director of software and solutions at John Deere, said in a statement.
Even when the deal is completed, Sentera will continue to supply cameras directly to drone manufacturers, farmers, agronomists and other users, according to Deere. The John Deere Operations Center will also continue to be open for other drone imagery providers to integrate into the system.
Sentera, founded in 2014 by Eric Taipale, a former senior engineer at Lockheed Martin and chief technology officer at FourthWing Sensors, has grown the startup to serve customers in more than 45 countries.
In addition to its drone and sensor technology, the company is also a provider of software that can help farmers leverage data for precision spraying to mitigate weeds and for enhanced visibility into their crop health, according to its website.
“Over the last 10 years we have been working with John Deere to provide data as one of its first ‘integrated partners.’ Now, we are partnering with Deere to better support farmers and help them unlock even more value,” Taipale wrote in a LinkedIn post Tuesday.
Prior to Sentera, Taipale helped grow Lockheed’s unmanned aerial vehicle division from startup to $35 million in revenue in less than four years and to $110 million in eight years, according to AgFunder, a global venture capital firm that had invested in Sentera.
Sentera has been on a growth trajectory post-pandemic, securing $25 million in late-stage funding in 2021 and an unspecified amount in 2023. The company previously reported 40% growth year over year, driven by its data capture technology and advanced machine learnings.
