Desjardins Invests in AI Startup Motorleaf

Motorleaf , a Montreal-based AI and machine learning startup in the field of indoor agriculture, has raised $2.85M in a Seed round led by Radicle Growth, with participation from Desjardins Venture Capital.

It all began when Ramen Dutta, now CTO and cofounder of Motorleaf, had trouble finding friends to water his plants while away on vacation. This experience led him to co-found Motorleaf with Alastair Monk who serves as CEO.

Founded in late 2015, Motorleaf enables indoor farmers to more accurately forecast their future harvests using AI. The company develops yield-predicting algorithms and indoor growth sensors, helping growers make better business decisions and reduce costs.

Currently, methods to predict the amount of vegetables from a harvest is a time-consuming process, and often inaccurate. Growers count samples of a small area and that sample serves as an estimate of the expected yield. But better yield prediction is just the beginning – “We’re ultimately producing dynamic grower protocols, which help manage everything from light and nutrients to predicting greenhouse diseases before they happen, and optimized growing conditions that increase return on investment – all based on real-time data” – cofounder and CEO, Alistair Monk.

With this financing round, Motorleaf plans to further develop its software and sensors to acquire additional data from common indoor climate control and irrigation systems. Last, Motorleaf is available for growers with a small addition of the Motorleaf equipment, and without the need for major changes to their infrastructure.