Fast Company announced that Aerobotics has earned the standing of number 10 on their 2019 Most Innovative Companies List in the Africa sector.
The list honors the businesses making the most profound impact on both industry and culture, showcasing a variety of ways to thrive in today’s volatile world. Half of the companies on this year’s MIC 50 list are appearing for the first time.
“We are proud and excited to have been named to Fast Company’s 2019 Top 10 Most Innovative Companies list,” said Aerobotics Co-Founder and CEO James Paterson. “The hard work all of us have been putting into growing Aerobotics and increasing the number of farmers and agriculture partners we can help is being recognised more and more.”
Aerobotics processes data from drone and satellite imagery through its proprietary artificial intelligence software to discover and analyse problems, pests and diseases affecting individual trees or vines on a farm. In addition to health, the software also measures size, height and canopy volume. This type of highly accurate data empowers farmers to make better decisions in the field, so they can increase their yield and produce a more balanced crop.
The Fast Company announcement marks another milestone and achievement for Aerobotics, which has seen rapid growth, success and recognition over the last few years and, especially, the last five months. In November 2018, Aerobotics announced that it had processed more than 10 million trees in its artificial intelligence and software, making its technology and solutions stronger and more accurate. By the time of Fast Company’s announcement, the number of trees processed has already increased to more than 20 million.
At the end of 2018, Aerobotics was named Innovator of the Year and one of the top five most exciting startups to watch in South Africa in the same week shortly after winning the VivaTech Challenge at the AfricArena event in Cape Town. Those awards recognised Aerobotics for specific achievements in the technology and operations sides of the business.
As part of its recent growth, Aerobotics has recently hired Stuart van der Veen as Chief Platform Officer from Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB), where he was Head of Disruption and Innovation. Stuart Reid has also recently joined Aerobotics as Head of Data Science to help drive and grow their capabilities. Stuart Reid will be based in the Cape Town office where he will establish new processes and frameworks for rapidly-prototyping and scaling state of the art computer vision models for use within existing and upcoming Aerobotics products.
Aerobotics has expanded its presence around the world and is now operating in 13 countries, including South Africa, the United States, Australia and Portugal. In the first half of 2019, Aerobotics will also be launching an office in California to help push its presence and offering with tree and vine crop growers in California and throughout the United States.
“We have been growing at a faster pace than most people in the agriculture and technology industries expected,” said Aerobotics COO Tim Willis. “While we are proud of how far we have come and how fast we have grown, we believe we are only getting started. The market can expect many more big achievements and announcements to come from Aerobotics in the near, medium and long term.”
In February 2019, Aerobotics launched a series of events around South Africa called “AeroCon” in partnership with various drone industry partners and sponsors, including the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA), First National Bank, Wesgro, PROMMAC, MicaSense and Rectron, among others. AeroCon is a “one-stop-shop” for people wanting to build their own drone piloting business and features a range of speakers and activities to help aspiring drone pilots navigate the necessary licensing and certification requirements.
This year, Fast Company’s editors and writers sought out groundbreaking businesses across 35 industries and every region. They also judged nominations received through their application process. The World’s Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company’s signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides both a snapshot and a road map for the future of innovation across the most dynamic sectors of the economy.
“Established players are showing the same kind of nimbleness that we’ve generally associated with startups,” said Fast Company deputy editor David Lidsky, who oversaw the issue with senior editor Amy Farley.
Aerobotics
Cape Town start-up, Aerobotics, provides farmers around the world with world-leading pest and disease management systems for tree crop protection using artificial intelligence and drone and satellite data. The company was co-founded by James Paterson (CEO) and Benji Meltzer (CTO) in 2014.
Farming is a risky business with pests and disease often reducing a farmer’s yields. Aerobotics’ software, Aeroview, empowers tree crop farmers to identify early stage problems in their orchards. Used in conjunction with the Aerobotics’ Aeroview Scout App on their smartphone, farmers are able to locate problem areas on a tree-by-tree basis.
Achieving success for more thanpree Relase 19 million trees to-date, Aerobotics is setting the standard for tree crop analytics globally and innovating the agricultural processes as we know them.
Fast Company
Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies and thinkers on the future of business. Since 2011, Fast Company has received some of the most prestigious editorial and design accolades, including the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) National Magazine Award for “Magazine Of The Year,” Adweek’s Hot List for “Hottest Business Publication,” and six gold medals and 10 silver medals from the Society of Publication Designers. The editor-in-chief is Stephanie Mehta and the publisher is Amanda Smith. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com.
