AI price forecasting platform Helios had a strong start to 2026 and is on track to close its best quarter ever, as the SaaS start-up continues to add functionality to help commodity buyers gain the edge on supply chain volatility — whether it is climate change or the Iran war — the company’s CEO, Francisco Martin-Rayo, told AgTechNavigator.
Founded in 2022, Helios is a platform that uses over 500 billion climate risk data points to predict the prices of over 75 commodities, including chickpeas and lentils, which were recently added. Helios users can receive custom reports outlining what is happening with a specific commodity based on variables like a plus or minus 10% price differential, Martin-Rayo explained.
Helios also updated its growing season calendar to display where a crop is during its development (flowering, mid-season, or peak harvest), added a new data table column to display primary risk for a specific commodity, and enhanced tools to help onboard users to the Helios platform, as shared with AgTechNavigator on an exclusive first basis.
Helios is finding success, as commodity buyers and large food producers are trying to stay one step ahead of the next big supply chain shock, as the Iran war is set to disrupt the global food system.
“Obviously, you are going to see an increase in energy prices, and you are going to see an increase in fertiliser prices. You are already starting to see some of that, and then you are seeing an increase in freight charges, and so those three things typically take longer to end up hitting consumers’ pocketbooks, but we know they will. And so that will have a negative effect, ultimately, on the consumer, and it will have a negative effect on producers because it costs [them] more to produce the same thing,” he elaborated.
Can global commerce continue as it always has?
Global agribusiness leaders are seeking an edge on volatility, as geopolitical tensions have the potential reshape the flow of commerce. Martin-Rayo attended the 2026 World Economic Forum, where global leaders gathered to discuss the changing international order.
Despite concerns, global trade is still happening, and commodity buyers are leveraging the redundancies and diversification of raw material sources to untangle supply chain knots, Martin-Rayo noted.
“If I cannot get my mangoes from Peru, I will get them from India. If I cannot get my cherries from Michigan, I will get them from Turkey,” he added.
However, if the normal trade rules go away completely, commodity buyers will have a smaller list of countries to source their commodities from and a worsening climate crisis, Martin-Rayo explained.
“As a producer today, you feel [like] you can broadly sell your product anywhere in the world, and you feel like you can buy products anywhere in the world. If that assumption does change, then it is a different world,” Martin-Rayo said.
He added, “Then, we will continue to see the impacts of climate change accelerate, and climate change itself accelerates. But suddenly you have to say, ‘Well, maybe I’m not going to be able to source my tomatoes from Spain anymore, or my mangoes from India. And maybe I have to look at a much smaller world in terms of how and where to source.’”
