2017年11月7日

CapAgro是法國農業食品科技風險投資公司在2014年底,開始爆炸,使九投資12個月,八個在成立後的前三個月。去年10月,國際貨幣基金組織宣布第二近的CapAgro創新基金增加€6600萬(7800萬美元),將基金的總€124(合147美元)。CapAgro的投資範圍廣泛,涵蓋創新食品、農業市場,新穎的農業係統,農業機器人,和中遊技術。合夥人我們趕上新興Monpert CapAgro自2015年以來,找出為什麼CapAgro看著更多的機器人技術投資的國際論壇在農業機器人在圖盧茲,法國11月29日和30日,他是一個演說家。CapAgro目前隻投資於一個農業機器人技術公司——Naio技術。CapAgro評估更多的機器人公司或你Naio一次性投資?我們正在評估每一個機器人公司。我在接下來的日子裏會遇到另一個團隊。(藍河的收購由約翰迪爾)的成功,我希望,我們不僅Capagro,而且每一個VC亞博將有一個機器人領域的獨角獸。我們在那一刻農民準備投資。 They are looking for new technologies to manage their farms, which are bigger and bigger, with a labor shortage. There are good opportunities for robotics that can create the opportunity to have a unicorn – I hope so! What is your first consideration when evaluating a robotics startup? The first thing we look at is the team and that’s not only for a robotics investment, that’s for every kind of investment. Having a great team with good technology is important, but also – and this is rare – good knowledge of the agriculture sector, which means agricultural practice and knowledge of farmer mindsets is essential. Entrepreneurs in robotics have to have in mind that selling robots to farmers is hard. You have to know their habits, practices, and methods of cultivations. That’s why some startups take a long time before going to the market because a lot of startups have prototypes but they don’t sell. They maybe have one or two robots in the field. One of our criteria is does the startup already have significant sales, not a mere prototype? Have they already tested the market? A lot of startups can lose money and time because they don’t know the final customer. Do you require that of all of your investments? Yes. It can be small revenue, but we want revenue in the coming year. We want significant sales. We want companies with user-friendly robots for farmers. And one very important thing is customer service. When you sell robots you have to keep in mind that a lot of farmers will call you because the robot is not working as they want. The company has to have strong customer service and it can be expensive because it cannot only be on the phone. But it is crucial because if you sell a robot to a farmer and he can’t use it, your authority is coming down and one of the main assets in the robotics sector is the brand. You can compare it to the tractor sector; the brand is really crucial. Do you see a lot of consolidation coming in this sector? Yes. I have seen a lot of startups looking for money in the last month [to make acquisitions]. It is a very fragmented sector with a lot of small companies with specific IP. There is definitely an acceleration in M&A coming. Blue River was the first success story for robotics. I saw a lot of VCs looking at the sector and just one year ago they weren’t aware of the potential. Do you think these brands are going to survive all the M&A? It depends if the startups are raising money from a VC or family office or if the startup is raising money from a corporate. If it is from a VC they could keep their brand, but if they are acquired by a corporate they might lose their brand. I don’t know what John Deere is going to do with Blue River. It will be interesting.