Verdi secures $6.5M to cut farm water use

Verdi, a Vancouver-based company focused on automating irrigation for farms, has raised CAD 6.5 million (USD 4.7 million) in an oversubscribed seed funding round. The round was led by SVG Ventures and included participation from NEC, Ponderosa Ventures (part of Galvanize Climate Solutions), Elemental Impact, GenomeBC, and several others. This capital brings Verdi’s total raised capital to $9.5 million.

The funding comes after a year of growth for Verdi, which reports its irrigation automation technology is now in use on more than 5,000 acres of farmland in North America, including some used by major food and beverage companies. 

Verdi attributes its growth to the system’s ability to integrate with existing infrastructure, noting that in 2024 alone, its technology helped customers reduce irrigation labour costs by over $1 million and save more than 100 million litres of water.

“Our mission is to overcome the traditional adoption barriers that have prevented farmers from scaling irrigation automation, and in turn allow them to increase farm efficiency and resilience,” said Arthur Chen, CEO and co-founder of Verdi. “This round fuels our ability to scale rapidly and continue delivering impact where it matters most – on the farm.”

When the Vancouver Tech Journal spoke to Chen back in 2022, the then 25-year-old described water scarcity as a major problem for agriculture, pointing to the industry’s significant use of 70-80% of the world's fresh water supply. He attributed the inefficient use of water to an ancient irrigation infrastructure that doesn’t consider the needs of individual plants.

“We've built proprietary technology that can augment existing and legacy irrigation infrastructure, with capabilities for automation and healthcare at the plant level,” Chen said at the time. “And that's really helping our customers to significantly improve their crop productivity as well as to de-risk themselves from water scarcity.”

The company has come a long way since then, winning pitch competitions and receiving more investment — including from SVG Ventures, a California-based firm that had previously invested in Verdi and led the seed round.

“We invested in Verdi because they’re solving one of agriculture’s biggest challenges – climate resilience – through a solution that is not only innovative but also practical and scalable,” said John Hartnett, CEO of SVG Ventures. “Their ability to integrate with existing farm infrastructure makes their platform a game-changer for growers looking to stay competitive in a changing world.”

Verdi says this latest investment will be used to support continued expansion into new regions, as well as to advance its AI-powered platform and deepen relationships with major agribusinesses.