The steady development of Deveron UAS Corp., a company that started life as a junior miner more than five years back — but which changed focus two years back to become one of the country’s few drone companies — continues.
This week, Deveron, which defines itself as a “data service company providing farmers with the opportunity to increase yields and reduce costs through the use of sophisticated unmanned aerial systems, inked its biggest deal, a partnership with The Climate Corp., a subsidiary of Monsanto Co.
One way to view the significance of the partnership: Monsanto, which has a market cap of US$52 billion, bought Climate Corp. in the fall of 2013 for US$1.1 billion. Deveron’s market cap is $8 million.
David MacMillan, Deveron’s chief executive said while Monsanto is viewed “by many people in the agricultural industry as a leader when it comes to technology,” its purchase of Climate Corp., a company started by two former Google executives, was especially significant. “It shed a light to the ag industry that maybe data did have a future,” said MacMillan, noting that The Climate Corp’s FieldView platform (which was launched in 2015 and which costs US$1,000 — US$3,000 per year) is used by more than 100,000 farmers in North America and Brazil. Those users farm more than 120 million acres.
Deveron now becomes the eleventh partner on the FieldView platform. “We are the first non-U.S. partner, and the only partner providing drone imagery collection,” said MacMillan, who first contacted Climate Corp. more than two years back when he was given the opportunity to find a new business for the former Deveron Resources, a company taken public in early 2012 but which had trouble in gaining traction. At the time Greencastle Resources was Deveron’s largest shareholder.
“Others are providing analysis on drone data but none are collecting the data for the farmers. That’s the beauty of our business model. Climate Corp. analyses data. We collect it for farmers which means they don’t have to buy drones,” said MacMillan who is also relatively new to the world of drones.
Indeed when he returned to Canada from graduate studies in Scotland a few years back he was seeking a position as a research economist. That career path changed when he met Anthony Roodenburg, chief executive of Greencastle Resources.
Reached Friday, Roodenburg said the agreement with Climate Corporation “is a tremendous validation of Deveron’s business model.”
Since identifying drones as a business to expand into, Deveron has acquired privately held Eagle Scout Imaging (run by Norm Lemothe), set on an expansion path, raised capital and formed other partnerships. For the first nine months of 2017 drone income was four times the level of the same period of 2016.
Denise Hockaday, Climate Corp.’s business lead for Canada also lauded the new partnership, given that FieldView, which is also an app, offers a place for the farmers to bring all their data into one location.
Informed decisions are possible, she said, when “all the pieces of data are in the same context.”
Now Deveron’s data will be added. “Deveron offers timely in-season aerial high definition imagery. And that is very important in decision-making over the course of the season. The data has greater value to the farmer when all the data is in one location,” said Hockaday. Climate Corp. — which brought its FieldView product to Canada last spring and which is set to expand across the country — already offers imagery. But that information is obtained from satellites, not always an ideal situation because of weather conditions. “Partnering with Deveron gives farmers even more value, she said.
Financial Post
Deveron brings drone imaging to farm data partnership with Monsanto