The agricultural blockchain platform GrainChain recently raised $ 8.2 million in a round led by Medici Ventures, the investment arm of Overstock.com. Medici contributed $ 5 million, with additional investments from Eden Block and other investors.
With the last cycle, total funding for GrainChain is $ 10.7 million. Medici Ventures previously invested $ 2.5 million in the blockchain company for 10% of the equity. However, the company has not disclosed its current ownership.
GrainChain allows easy and secure payments between suppliers and farmers and ensures product traceability. The platform uses smart contracts to secure funds during a transaction. It makes this possible using Internet of Things (IoT) devices, which can monitor things like the weight and temperature of agricultural products.
Founded in 2013, Texas-based GrainChain went into production in early 2019 and has since processed more than 5 billion pounds of product. Its current number of participants is 1,439, who have made around 84,000 transactions using the platform.
“GrainChain’s work to reduce the time and spoilage associated with agricultural transactions, while reducing friction costs for farmers and buyers, is a shining example of Medici Ventures’ mission to democratize capital, eliminate intermediaries and to rehumanize commerce through the use of blockchain technology, “said Jonathan Johnson, CEO of Overstock and President of Medici Ventures.
By using GrainChain, farmers have better control over who they sell, and therefore a better price for their products by eliminating middlemen. On the other hand, buyers get a pool of farmers to buy, which makes the supply side easier. By leveraging the blockchain, GrainChain is able to reduce fraud and corruption through IoT monitoring and certification on the blockchain.
A few months ago, some coffee producers from Honduras signed up to use the GrainChain platform. The aim was to streamline and track transactions in the convoluted coffee supply chain.
Meanwhile, last month, Australian blockchain company AgriChain raised $ 6 million ($ 4 million) from Cornerstone Growth Capital. The company has developed a blockchain supply chain management platform for agricultural products. It aims to connect producers, brokers and logistics partners on a single platform.
The Covantis consortium, formed by the companies Agri Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Bunge, Cargill, Glencore and Louis Dreyfus, is working on the digitization of transactions using the blockchain. It recently chose ConsenSys as its technological partner.