FruitCast, an innovative digital forecasting tool for soft fruit growers, has successfully raised £2.8m in investment. The funding, provided by private investors Ceres Agritech and Innovate UK through its investor partnership programme, will enable FruitCast to launch in 2024. The tool has been developed in response to the specific needs of growers, who require more accurate predictions of fruit growth development in order to effectively plan labor and market supply and protect their margins.
The CEO of FruitCast, Richard Williamson, emphasized the value of the tool and the expertise of its development team. He stated, “Raising this capital is testament to the developer Raymond Martin and the team who have created a cutting-edge tool that is immensely valuable to growers. It could be a gamechanger for an industry plagued by challenges that are persistently squeezing margins. The AI capability is driven by one of the largest databases in the world, which gives it a firm foundation for accurate forecasting ahead of other competitors. This combined with the depth of understanding of practical agriculture and proven capability has made FruitCast attractive to agritech investors in what is a competitive and noisy marketplace.”
Traditionally, yield forecasting in the soft fruit industry relies on manual counting and estimation. FruitCast, on the other hand, utilizes a moving camera to take thousands of photographs, measuring individual fruit numbers, weight, and maturity on a daily basis. This data is then processed and delivered through a user-friendly interface, allowing production managers to allocate labor and plan market sales up to six weeks in advance. The success of trials conducted with leading UK growers W B Chambers and Place UK has generated significant interest from investors and stimulated substantial investment.
Dan Yordanov, production manager at Place UK, highlighted the importance of accurate estimation for labor planning and customer satisfaction. He explained, “Planning our labor needs and availability for our customers is wholly dependent on accurate estimation. There’s a lot of calculation in forecasting, it takes a lot of time, a large amount of input from experienced staff and is currently subject to human error. This is a real challenge for the industry. I’m excited to see FruitCast come to market. It is more advanced than others we’ve seen, but it’s also based on a valuable combination of agricultural knowledge and technology. There’s plenty of very advanced AI out there, but the team at FruitCast understand what we need it to do rather than what it can do.”
The funding received by FruitCast includes an initial £520,000 from Ceres Agritech in 2022, which allowed for the development of the tool and the assembly of a highly skilled research and industry experts team. Additional investment of over £1.1m has been provided by Ceres Agritech and Innovate UK, along with private investors, to support the launch of FruitCast. The tool will be made available through a subscription system and continue to be developed for enhanced functionality and expansion to other crops.
FruitCast’s successful funding has positioned it as a trusted solution for soft fruit growers, offering precise forecasting and planning capabilities to maximize efficiency and profitability within the industry.
