yris (formerly RedSea), the Riyadh, Abu Dhabi-based agritech firm helping growers globally increase crop yields, reduce input costs and risk, and extend growing seasons in some of the most difficult farming environments, has raised $16 million, Series A fundraise to support its growth.
The firm will use the funds to to increase its sales coverage for SecondSky greenhouse covers and nets and fund continued development of its innovative heat blocking products and resilient plant genetics.
The round was led by Ecosystem Integrity Fund (“EIF”) – a San Francisco-based climate and sustainability fund supported by current and new institutional investors including Global Ventures, Dubai Future District Fund (DFDF), Kanoo Ventures, Globivest, and Bonaventure Capital.
In a statement made available to TechMoran, John Keppler, Executive Chairperson of iyris, said:”We are building a great company, making it easier for farmers to grow fresh produce in increasingly difficult climates. There are few problems more challenging than feeding the world sustainably. iyris is assembling the necessary toolkit to help farmers improve crop yields with less resources.”
The technologies being deployed at scale by iyris were originally developed by leading scientists and professors at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia.
The first technology – iyris’ SecondSky – available in multiple greenhouse coverings and shade nets, minimizes the stress and impact of near infrared heat radiation on plants while allowing the spectrum of light that plants need for photosynthesis. This is revolutionary in the agriculture industry delivering more resilient, productive and profitable crops in regions where climate change and excessive heat limit sustainable, productive growth. iyris is selling SecondSky polycarbonate, polyethylene, nets, and soon to be launched shade screens, to customers growing fresh produce in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Mexico and North America.
Additionally, iyris has developed plant genetics via a novel hybridization process that has the potential to breed resiliency to salinity, heat and drought across a broad range of crops, ensuring stress resistant, dependable food production. The technology is already demonstrating exciting results with some of the world’s largest tomato growers in large-scale open-field trials.
Serving a global market of >$6 billion in recurring annual sales for greenhouse covers, iyris’ solutions deliver tangible benefits to the planet, and growers – via extended growing seasons, increased yields and resource savings, while bolstering local, regional, and global food supply chains. Farmers in iyris’ target markets benefit from single crop cycle payback periods for technology investments from the iyris portfolio.
iyris’ platform of proprietary technologies reduces energy and water consumption by up to 90% in their target markets. The winner of the esteemed Davidson Prize, SecondSky by iyris, the transparent heat-blocking greenhouse roof – alone – has delivered reductions in energy usage by over 40% and water consumption by 30% at customer installations.
“EIF has been studying the impact of increasingly extreme weather on agriculture. iyris’ suite of products are tailored for growers in harsh and volatile conditions, who have been underserved historically by AgriClimate Tech innovation. These growers, who often operate on thin margins, have few options to better manage their farms to reduce the risk of crop loss, increase yields, and reduce water and energy consumption,” said Sasha Brown, partner at EIF.
The firm was launched in 2018 to reduce food insecurity, the carbon footprint, and water usage in both the Gulf and global food systems, using its patented system of cutting-edge solar and growth monitoring technologies that enable the replacement of fresh water, typically used to cool greenhouses and irrigate crops, with salt water.
iyris last year signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Magrabi Agriculture, the Egyptian provider of fresh produce to more than 60 countries deploying iyris’ cutting-edge technologies to Magrabi Agriculture’s Egyptian farms and globally.
