Scale-up Interview: Smart Watering
Smart Watering brings smart and autonomous irrigation to the world using devices in the field and cloud application.
How would you describe your business idea to a potential investor (who is not an expert in your particular profession)?
Cloud connected hardware that helps fruit growers put their drip irrigation system on autopilot. Smart Watering is drip irrigation and fertigation assistant that’s available 24/7/365.
What problem do you want to solve, what is your goal?
Fruit growers waste 90 hours a month on manual an inefficient irrigation. They make decisions about irrigation on a pure guess and thus don’t irrigate enough or over irrigate and as a result they have low yield and an unprofitable farm. They also pay consultants/agronomists that tell them when to irrigate and how much 300 EUR/month. Smart Watering help growers operate irrigation from anywhere using a mobile application and our daily irrigation recommendations take the guesswork out of irrigation and advise farmers on when to irrigate and how much. As a result, growers have 5% higher yield, save enough water per hectare to supply two European households with water for a year and reduces workforce activities by 4 X as per our case study.*
* two year long case study done with one of the largest Serbian food production companies, Delta Agrar
Illustration of the solution
Lazar Jovanovic
How did you come up with your idea/concept?
Back in 2017. I (Lazar Jovanović) built my own hazelnut farm that was 150 km away from the city I live in. I was looking for a tool that will help me operate irrigation remotely and monitor the whole system. I could find acceptable solution on the market so my roommate and I sat down and build our first prototype.
What is your business model?
Onetime setup fee for the hardware (4000 EUR) and monthly subscription for the app (25 EUR/month)
What other benefits does it offer and why is it worth to invest?
As per Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA, groundwater levels are decreasing globally, and we need to improve water efficiency if we want to feed growing world population. Our research showed that food production industry need to increase its productivity by 70 % if we want to feed the world population by 2050 [link].
And as our case study showed, Smart Watering saves enough water per ha to supply 2 European households for a year and brings 4 x labor savings [link].
Having in mind all the above, the fact that smart watering is saving fruit grower 1000 EUR/month, save time and make their farm more profitable and 60 companies and farms in Serbia that are using our solutions we believe that Smart Watering has global potential. We get quote requests from all over the world, from USA to Australia to South Africa and Spain.
There are 10.000.000 (TAM of 80 billion EUR) fruit growers who use drip irrigation, 5.000.000 is suitable for automation (SAM 80 billion EUR), and we can serve 10.000 of them making it 80 million EUR market (SOM).
Why did you decide to apply to Scaleup4Europe?
To find potential partners for scaling the business outside Serbia, meet investors and expand my network in the industry.
Get more information about Smart Watering on their website or connect with the team on LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram.
Smart Watering is part of the Scaleup4Europe AgTech Lab.
You want to join one of the four Scaleup4Europe Labs as well?
Get more information and apply at scaleup4.eu.
