The Reservoir is building on its foundation of supporting agtech start-ups by launching a venture fund — Reservoir Venture (VC) — with ag industry veteran Matthew Hoffman, former global R&D, agtech, and digital transformation lead for berries producer Driscoll’s, joining the firm as a general partner (GP).
The evergreen venture fund — meaning it is open to new investors — is investing in pre-seed start-ups in robotics, automation, precision agriculture, and AI software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms, Danny Bernstein, founder and CEO of Reservoir, told AgTechNavigator. Reservoir VC is investing in pre-seed companies “with valuations aligned to today’s agtech exit realities,” Reservoir Farms shared in a press release.
Reservoir VC was inspired by the organization’s innovation accelerator, Reservoir Farms, which celebrated its groundbreaking last month, AgTechNavigator previously reported. Reservoir Farms launched with the support of John Deere as the innovation hub’s exclusive original equipment manufacturer partner and a sub-lease for a 40-acre plot of land in Salinas, Calif., from food producer Tanimura & Antle.
The Reservoir already invested in soil health company TerraBlaster, SaaS company for the produce industry Agriful Software, sensing technology company Nexstera Tech, and automation start-up Farm-ng, which was recently acquired by Bonsai Robotics.
“We came up with the idea for Reservoir VC based on the fact that we are getting to know these companies really well. And if we can provide really smart capital to them, we can help move the industry forward, and we can accelerate solutions. Our unique approach would be investing very early — really before product-market fit. And then we can leverage Reservoir Farms as a platform to help de-risk, to help stage gate, [and] to help them on that journey toward commercialization,” Bernstein elaborated.
Driscoll’s veteran joins as GP for Reservoir VC
As Reservoir VC’s new GP, Hoffman will drive growth in the investment fund, pulling from his expertise in specialty crops and digital agriculture, Bernstein noted.
Reservoir VC is planning to change the dynamic in how investors work with agtech start-ups by focusing on close collaboration and tracking progress in the field, Bernstein explained. Some agtech investors would not even visit fields to see the technology in action, he admitted.
“We will have [investors] in the field. We will have them in our fields. We will have field testing. We are doing field testing with UC Davis as a collaboration with our head of ag robotics. So, we are going to do some things differently, and Matt will drive that,” Bernstein said.
Can farmers tap into the AI boom?
Historically, the Reservoir has focused more on the physical aspect (i.e., robotics) of agtech, but the firm identified an opportunity for AI software with its venture fund. AI-based software can improve farming operations and help growers tap into additional revenue streams, such as monetizing the large amount of data farmers produce, Bernstein said.
“There will be AI tools [and] software platform services that come for ag that can improve decision making [and] that can help growers really make sense of the terabytes of data that are coming out of their farms every tractor turn, etc. We see that there is going to be a role for software,” he elaborated.
