Founded in 2022 by Scott Jarrett and Utkarsh Vaidya after completing the Carbon13 climate-tech accelerator, Elaniti was born out of a simple observation: traditional soil tests often fail to predict real-world crop outcomes.“Our starting point was to spend a lot of time with farmers,” Jarrett told AgTechNavigator.
They discovered that understanding soil function, not just chemistry, was key. And to do that, he stressed, you need to incorporate soil biology.
How Elaniti’s technology works
Elaniti’s flagship product, SoilDiagnostics, combines DNA sequencing with advanced machine learning to assess soil function across six categories. Proprietary bioinformatics pipelines annotate microbial taxonomy and functional potential, which are then integrated with physicochemical data, farm management practices, and environmental variables.
“We introduce over 50,000 data transformations to capture the non-linear complexity of soil biogeochemical relationships,” Jarrett explained.
This integrated approach allows it to forecast outcomes like disease risk, nutrient use efficiency, and yield potential far more accurately than traditional tests. These have looked at individual categories of data in siloes such as soil nutrients, soil biology and rainfall.
“Our biogeochemical models bring all of those attributes together into a single combined framework, aligned to a discrete number of soil functions,” Jarrett said. “Ultimately soil is a dynamic and context-dependent medium, which we represent through our approach.”
Bayer is betting on biology
Bayer’s partnership with Elaniti, facilitated by EIT Food, spans several European countries and focuses on understanding how microbial communities influence early crop establishment, plant growth, and resilience.
For Bayer, this is about moving beyond chemistry to biology, with the expectation that microbiome intelligence can help optimise input strategies, improve sustainability, and unlock new value for growers.
Elanti was also among the early-stage start-ups showcasing their solutions at REAP 2025, the annual conference of Agri-TechE, the not-for-profit connecting farmers, researchers, technologists, and entrepreneurs to stimulate innovation in agriculture.
Real-world impact for farmers
SoilDiagnostics delivers actionable recommendations that guide decisions on crop variety, fertiliser use, and disease management. Case studies show how microbiome-informed insights can prevent costly mistakes.“In one example, a grower expected high nitrogen efficiency based on nutrient availability alone,” Jarrett noted. “But when we factored in soil biology, we forecasted poor uptake, and he ultimately missed his protein target. That was only foreseeable through a combined biogeochemical profile.”
Scaling up and looking ahead
Elaniti is expanding partnerships in Europe and exploring North America, while also integrating with precision ag platforms through projects like UKRI’s NUTRIGROW, a project funded by Innovate UK.
Longer term, the start-up sees applications beyond agriculture, from carbon markets to land restoration, insurance and asset management sectors.
“Soil is fundamental to our existence on this planet,” Jarrett said. “By understanding how soil functions, we can establish a cyclical and holistic relationship as opposed to the input/output approach we see today.”
He describes soil as a fundamental bridge between people and the environment – an adaptive layer that evolves in response to environmental shifts, management practices, and policy changes.
“There are therefore numerous applications across various sectors,” he said. “But we are beginning with the one we believe is most vital and the hardest nut to crack – sustainable food production.”
