Lightsmith’s investment is part of its focus on investing in growth-stage climate resilience solutions companies – technology companies in agriculture and food, energy, water, finance, and supply chains that can help to assess and manage the increased risks and impacts from climate change. Solinftec recently added to its farm operations management platform with the launch of its robot to autonomously scan and monitor fields, providing farmers and agronomists with a new level of data to further increase yields, avoid wasted inputs, and lower environmental impacts. ALICE AI is an integrated, end-to-end farm operations management platform covering all key operations and equipment on farms, including planting, spraying, harvesting, and tendering. Solinftec’s farm operations management software, powered by its artificial intelligence platform, ALICE AI, allows customers to optimally schedule and plan their farming operations and to make real-time decisions and adjustments to ensure the best, real-world results. The company deploys sensors, computers, and displays in farm equipment to provide customers with a rich set of real-time, in-field data on crops, equipment, inputs, and weather conditions. Since 2007, Solinftec has been developing solutions to solve the practical challenges faced by growers in managing their complex farming operations. The company is based in Aracatuba, Brazil and West Lafayette, Indiana, and has more than 700 employees worldwide. Solinftec serves 85% of Brazilian sugarcane growers, the top 5 grains producers in Brazil, and GROWMARK, one of North America’s largest agricultural cooperatives. Solinftec’s digital farm operating system is used to manage more than 27 million acres in Brazil, the United States, and across Latin America, by growers, cooperatives, and agricultural retailers for field crops such as sugarcane, soy, corn, and cotton, and perennial crops such as citrus, coffee, and timber. Additional undisclosed investors are also participating in the round. Lightsmith is joining existing investors in the company, Unbox Capital, which also participated in the round, and Circularis Partners (TPG ART). The investment will enable the company to further expand its digital farm operations platform in North America and South America. Solinftec, one of the world’s largest independent precision agriculture companies, has secured a $60 million growth investment round led by the Lightsmith Group.
Previously, Sanjay was the first Principal in the CleanTech Group at VantagePoint Capital Partners, which invested over $1 billion in 25 cleantech companies (most notably Tesla Motors), and earlier he served as an Investment Officer at the International Finance Corporation, leading financings of private sector transport, power, and water infrastructure projects in developing countries.The investment will help Solinftec expand its digital farm operations platform leveraging real-time data to make farming practices more efficient, sustainable, and resilient to changing weather and climate conditions. Department of Energy (DOE), overseeing the implementation of $15 billion in programs for clean energy and climate solutions, and he served as the first Associate Director for Commercialization at ARPA-E, the advanced research agency for breakthrough energy technologies. In the first three years of the Obama Administration, Sanjay served as a senior official at the U.S. He has over 20 years of experience in investing, technology company management, and government focused on clean energy, water, food and agriculture, transportation, and climate change. Sanjay Wagle is co-founder and Managing Director of The Lightsmith Group, a private equity firm investing in growth-stage technology companies, with a current focus on climate change adaptation and resilience.
Sanjay Wagle Co-founder and Managing Director Lightsmith Group
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