FBN secures $50 million in funding

These additions join the company’s platform that facilitates agricultural commerce, financing and farm intelligence, the company said in a Monday

Farmers Business Network (FBN) secured $50 million in funding to expand its marketplace for North America’s agricultural sector and deploy new artificial intelligence capabilities.

These additions join the company’s platform that facilitates agricultural commerce, financing and farm intelligence, the company said in a Monday (July 28) press release.

FBN further expanded its marketplace offerings after growing its private-label product portfolio and opening its platform to third-party sellers earlier this year, the release said. The new additions announced Monday include more private-label and third-party crop protection products, new third-party seed offers, and new products like feed, fencing and farm and ranch supplies to its livestock marketplace.

In addition, FBN Canada expanded its wheat crop protection portfolio, added financing for bulk liquid fertilizer and equipment, and will open two new distribution centres next year, according to the release.

Our commitment to putting farmers first means a relentless focus on efficiency and convenience, FBN CEO Diego Casanello said in the release. Our goal is to reduce a farm’s operating costs 20% or more compared to brick-and-mortar retail.

FBN is also increasing its investment in AI development, the release said. The company offers a large language model called Norm that answers farmers’ questions about agronomy and crop marketing, and it plans to add personalized agronomy, finance and risk management support, per the release.

Artificial intelligence is enabling us to provide our farmer members with more personalized and relevant insights, Casanello said in the release. Simultaneously, it offers new tools to automate our marketplace operations, reducing costs and improving the customer experience.

FBN’s investors include GV (Google Ventures), Temasek, Arteqin, Colle Capital and T. Rowe Price, according to the release.