Investors have rewarded the commercial success of BPCA member Spotta’s smart pest systems with a $1.18 million seed funding round.
This investment is said to reflect Cambridge-based Spotta’s huge potential in global markets in farming, forestry, hospitality, and other sectors to solve the £320 bn ($400 bn) problem of insect pests while dramatically reducing pesticide use.
Representatives of Cambridge Angels and REMUS, a US-based VC firm, will join Spotta’s board as part of the £934,000 ($1,184,287*) investment deal. Other major investors include Martlet Capital, Wren Capital, and the Angel CoFund.
In addition to its Bed Pod product which monitors bed bugs in hotels and other multi-room accommodation offerings, Spotta is working with a major forest management organisation to develop an outdoor pest monitoring solution, and anticipates its technology being used in other applications including insect monitoring to help boost yields in agriculture.
Spotta will use the new funding to continue hiring top talent, launch two new products, and enter into new international markets beyond its current presence in the UK, the US and Europe.
Spotta aims to grow rapidly to support this expansion and continue its innovative use of AI and Internet of Things (IoT) to offer an accessible technological solution for pest detection.
Robert Fryers, CEO at Spotta, states: “With our technology it is finally possible to...help industries around the world to make a step change from reactive to proactive management of pests. This will save billions and massively reduce the amount of pesticide used globally.
"We’re delighted to have strong support from a wide group of investors who share our vision. This funding will allow us to scale up our commercial operations and continue to address the £320bn global problem of insect pests.”
We’re delighted to have strong support from a wide group of investors who share our vision.
Robert Fryers, Spotta CEO
Paul Anson, lead investor from the Cambridge Angels says: “Throughout its initial market roll-out with the Bed Pod, Spotta has proven that its pest detection and identification technology has real-world capabilities and delivers customer value in a global marketplace.
"This was a very strong follow-on round and that speaks to the capability of the management team and their execution success. We look forward to supporting Spotta as it continues on its commercial journey.”
Find out more at spotta.co
Source: Spotta press release