CropLogic plans A$8 mln IPO in ASX listing

Friday 14th July 2017

CropLogic, the agricultural technology company, has launched its prospectus and is planning an A$8 million capital raising before listing on the ASX.

The Christchurch-based company is offering 40 million shares at 20 Australian cents each with a minimum subscription of 25 million shares, or A$5 million. The capital will be used to fund market development, research & development, ASX listing costs and working capital, it said. In May, it completed an A$2 million pre-initial public offering funding round.

CropLogic's software models plant growth by gathering field data and making crop prescriptions and management recommendations. The company was incorporated in 2010 when it licensed the intellectual property for its software from the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research, which had done 25 years of plant model research.

"The launch process brings about many opportunities for CropLogic to continue its development and expansion throughout the US, Australia, New Zealand, and into China," chief executive Jamie Cairns said. "Our strategy provides us with the opportunity to firstly use our technology to transform and optimise the business model of the acquired companies before then introducing additional services to their clients. It is a two-phase approach that we believe reduces the cost and risk of market entry.”

The company will begin its roadshow presentation showcase in Auckland and Wellington in the week beginning July 17, and in Melbourne and Sydney in the week beginning July 24.

CropLogic has the exclusive global licence for the potato model of the software, which it has been testing in New Zealand, Australia, the United States and China, and a preferential option agreement to licence the software for other crops including maize, tomatoes, and onions. It is about to start trials of the system in other commodities such as corn, wheat, soybean and cotton.

In 2015, CropLogic was one of seven startups to get a $450,000 repayable grant from Callaghan Innovation, which it used to develop aerial imaging technology. The grants are scheduled to be repaid when the company begins to make sales, limited to 3 percent of Croplogic's total revenue per year.

(BusinessDesk receives assistance from Callaghan Innovation to cover the commercialisation of innovation.)

(BusinessDesk)

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