AgriBusiness

SproutX – thingc AgTech

13 March 2019
3 min read

Each month, Findex will profile the startups that have been accepted into the 2017 SproutX Accelerator program.

SproutX is a joint venture between Findex and the National Farmer’s Federation. It’s an innovation hub and startup accelerator designed specifically for the Agtech sector- the first of its kind in Australia.

SproutX focuses on nurturing startups and entrepreneurs to help transform the country’s $60 billion agriculture sector by helping solve a broad range of problems in the industry, using innovative solutions.

11 startup teams have been selected to join this year’s SproutX program; each receive $40,000 in capital, access to ongoing mentoring from industry experts and office space for six months.

The core focus of SproutX is about bringing together the entire agtech ecosystem across Australia into one place. This includes government, corporate, investment, entrepreneurs, industry, and of course the most important stakeholder; the farmer.

This month, we introduce you to thingc AgTechand talk with Cameron Leeson.

What is your startup and what problem is it solving for the agriculture industry?

thingc AgTech is an early stage startup bringing innovation to farmers, allowing them to monitor and optimise stock growth. Utilising machine vision processing and artificial intelligence, we are bringing a low touch, non-invasive, livestock handling practice to farms. By providing a deeper understanding of growth rates, farmers can optimise grazing, feeding and market timing. Ultimately our aim is to improve the profitability of livestock farming operations.

Tell us more about your enterprise and what inspired this idea?****

Recognising our strength in technology, thingc AgTech saw that the Australian agriculture sector has not been given due focus by technology companies. After numerous discussions with livestock farmers, we discovered that many of these farmers do not have detailed insight into livestock growth performance. This led to the solution we’re developing for the livestock industry.

What hurdles have you faced and conquered on your startup journey so far?

Distance has proven to be one of the biggest challenges to in our startup journey so far. Getting onto farms to learn directly about the challenges is extremely valuable, though has proven quite challenging. This has also added to the challenge of getting our trial farms up and running.

The environmental conditions in which our technology needs to operate, along with the lack of reliable communications infrastructure has added to the challenge for us. Hot, dusty, dirty environments, along with a lack of reliable data communication systems, has led us to development of some innovative technical solutions.

How can interested clients, farmers, or investors contact you?

Cameron Leeson

0458 227 611

[email protected]

www.thingc.co