Fermata

Fermata, an Israeli data science company, is carving a niche in the agricultural technology sector by applying computer vision and artificial intelligence to crop management. Founded in 2019 by Valeria Kogan, a bioinformatics expert and serial entrepreneur, the company was born from the insight that AI-driven medical imaging analysis could be adapted to address agricultural challenges. Kogan, recognized in Forbes' 30 Under 30 in 2022, leads the company, which has secured significant funding, including a $10 million Series A round in January 2025 led by Raw Ventures, to scale its operations.

The company's core business revolves around its flagship platform, Croptimus™, which offers precise plant monitoring for growers in both controlled environments like greenhouses and outdoor fields. By leveraging standard, off-the-shelf cameras, the system continuously monitors crops 24/7. The captured image data is then analyzed by Fermata's proprietary AI to provide early detection of a wide range of pests and diseases, such as powdery mildew, spider mites, and whiteflies. This allows growers to receive timely alerts and address issues before significant crop loss occurs, potentially reducing such losses by up to 30% and cutting pesticide use by 25%. Fermata's business model is centered on providing this data-driven service, which helps clients like commercial growers and seed producers improve operational efficiency and sustainability.

The Croptimus™ platform functions as a digital agronomist, automating the time-intensive process of manual scouting. Its key features include heat maps to track the spread of problems and identify persistent issue areas in a growing facility. The system is designed to be hardware-agnostic and can be installed without disrupting the growth cycle. Beyond pest and disease detection, Fermata is expanding the platform's capabilities to become a comprehensive 'digital brain' for horticulture, integrating third-party data to monitor factors like pollination, predict yields, and provide tailored recommendations. Strategic collaborations with major players like Bayer Crop Sciences, Microsoft, and NVIDIA underscore its strategy to integrate its API-based platform with other agricultural solutions and consultancy services.

Keywords: agricultural technology, computer vision, AI in agriculture, crop monitoring, pest detection, disease detection, greenhouse management, precision agriculture, digital agronomy, Valeria Kogan, Croptimus, horticulture technology, sustainable farming, crop loss reduction, farm management software, agtech, controlled environment agriculture, automated scouting, plant health, agricultural data analytics