Alliance Partners

Friday, May 29, 2020

Friday, May 15, 2020

The Yield Raises $11m helping farmers feed the world without wrecking the planet


Tasmania’s Ros Harvey Helping 
farmers “feed the world without wrecking the planet.”


The Yield - Ros Harvey’s Tazzies (Oz)  agtech start-up has just raised $11 million led by Japan's Yamaha Motor Ventures making the total raise to date $32m. German Company, Bosch, who provides the sensors is it’s largest investor.


Microsoft News describes Ros Harvey as a ‘force of nature,’ using tech to help with  sustainable farming and better working conditions.


“She has always been a pioneer and a force of nature. She can see into the future and translate that into action before anyone else.” Chris Vein, who was the U.S. deputy chief technology officer under President Obama


What does it do 

The Yield – helps agricultural farmers “feed the world without wrecking the planet.”


The Yield’s goal is to use its flagship product -  Sensing+ for the worlds 500 largest agribusinesses. 


Sensing+ provides insights and predictions, using sensors measuring inputs such as light, wind, leaf moisture, salinity etc using artificial intelligence.


It helps farmers best manage their crops, predict what yield to expect, and when to harvest. The local data provides better than information from far-off weather stations.


Examples 


For instance, ASX-listed Costa Group has Sensing+ installed at its farms where berries are grown beneath polythene "tunnels". Costa relies on Sensing+ to tell them what's happening in the micro-climate, and give them information they can use to optimise how they prune, irrigate and harvest," Ms Harvey told Michael Bailey of the AFR 


Sensing+ has allowed another customer to double the time window in which they could spray pesticides and remain in compliance with environmental guidelines.


"It’s all about the Data - says Ros Harvey. Using data, Farmers  can more accurately estimate yields and de-risk their crops as much as possible.


Sensis+ sweet spot and patents are around  the "last mile weather forecasting" for speciality crops such as almonds, apples, avocados and even medical marijuana.



Inspired by Michael Bailey who can be contacted on Twitter or email  at m.bailey@afr.com

Click here for afr article

Tuesday, May 05, 2020

TAIWAN: No Lockdowns, No Closed Businesses, Non-WHO Member, and Relatively Unaffected by COVID-19




Brian Shilhavy - Editor, Health Impact News 

reports that Johns Hopkins University had predicted that Taiwan would have the second most COVID-19 cases in the world, due to its close proximity to Mainland China.


But astonishingly, in spite of being only 80 miles from the coast of China with over 400,000 of its 24 million citizens working in China, as of mid-April, the country only had 400 cases of COVID-19, and only 6 deaths. And the vast majority of their 400 cases came into the country from abroad.


All of this has happened without shutting down the country with lock downs, and with almost all of its businesses continuing to operate. Is Taiwan doing something else the rest of the world is largely missing?


This video explains why.....





- Taiwan created a central monitoring station, social distancing and travel restrictions as soon as it heard of the potential outbreak in January. They were badly affected by SARS outbreak and took precautions immediately, treating the outbreak seriously.

- people where masks outside 

- all people coming in and out were tested at the airport and monitored for 14 days to show that they were isolating

- there people trust their government

- they used technology to monitor positive cases movement (similar to Australians Covid App) 


About Taiwan 


The island may be small, but the country is a regional and worldwide powerhouse. It’s the 21st largest economy in the world (19th if counting by PPP), despite having a population of just 24 million. It ranks 11th in GDP per capita, comparable to Denmark and Sweden.

It’s also an important partner with Communist China as one of the leading investors, trading partners and bankers for the PRC. Consequently, Taiwan hosts quite a bit of contact with the PRC.

For comparison sake, the United Sates saw about 3 million visitors from China in 2018, while Taiwan hosted 2.6 million visitors from China in 2018.

That’s why the results from Taiwan in fighting China’s Wuhan flu—as they call it in Taiwan—is so extraordinary.


Source https://healthimpactnews.com/2020/taiwan-no-lockdowns-no-closed-businesses-non-who-member-and-relatively-unaffected-by-covid-19/





Sunday, May 03, 2020

Sam Sicilia’s strategy of Hostplus investing over $1b in VC Funds - will be regarded a VC Visionary

Hostplus has invested over $1b in VC funds - $100m in Blackbird, Squarepeg, Artesian , Safar, Carthonna and Carnegie .....

Some wins to date .... Canva and CultureAmp - you only need one.

Every fund should have a percentage allocation to VC for so many reasons!!!

What do you think?