Granular Acquired by DuPont

For a reported $300 million, DuPont acquired Granular, the early stage precision Ag innovation company that has developed software and analytics tools that help farmers enhance sustainability, profitability and efficiency, in August of 2017.  Granular’s tools integrate with a farmer’s existing hardware, including tractors, drones and scales, to collect data from the field.

According to DuPont's Executive Vice President at the time, James C. Collins, who led DuPont’s agriculture segment, “This acquisition is an important component of our commitment to leading and shaping the ag tech market,”

Granular’s journey from startup to exit:

Solum, the precursor to Granular, was founded in 2009 by a team of Stanford graduates with the goal of providing faster, better, and higher density soil nutrient information.  Solum’s first technology was a real-time nitrate measurement tool, allowing field testing with laboratory quality results.  Solum first received research funding from the National Science Foundation and closed a $17M Series B round in 2010 to allow them to respond to the increasing demands of the market.  The company participated in Larta’s Commercialization Assistance Program in 2010 and was selected to present at the Ag Innovation Showcase in 2011.

In 2014, Solum went through several changes from selling the company’s soil science business to Climate Corp (Monsanto).  At that time, it changed its name to Granular and launched a new cloud business software and analytics tools to enable farmers to manage all aspects of running a farm, from the daily tasks out in the field to the budgeting and financial work in the office.

In 2015, Granular closed a round of third party investment for $18.7M.  The investment round was led by Tao Capital Partners, while existing premier Silicon Valley investors such as Google Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and Andreessen Horowitz also participated.

 “We started Granular to make a big impact on the business of farming,” said Sid Gorham, founder and CEO of Granular (former CEO of Solum).  As part of DuPont, Granular expects to expand and accelerate its impact on the business of farming.  Granular has customers across the United States, Canada and Australia, serving growers who farm close to 2 million acres of commodity and specialty crops.

📅 2011

👤 Sid Gorham

💼 Granular

📍 San Francisco, California