Dutch-based Connecterra’s sensor business acquired by Datamars: CEO Yasir Khokhar explains why

Dutch agtech startup Connecterra has announced a strategic partnership with Datamars to further enable sustainable dairy farming.

Founded in 2015 by Saad Ansari and Yasir Khokhar, Amsterdam-based Connecterra develops AI-based solutions that help optimise the dairy farming industry.

With AI solutions, dairy farmers are able to increase their productivity while reducing their impact on the planet.

Since its founding, the company has built two unique products. The first is a sensor business called Ida for farmers and the second is an enterprise AI solution.

Now, it is announcing the sale of its sensor business to Datamars, a Swiss developer of high-performance RFID solutions.

A business synergy

As part of this strategic partnership, Datamars has acquired Ida for Farmers. The Swiss company will also hold a majority share in the Connecterra company.

Neither of the two companies shared terms of the deal but there is synergy in the business.

Connecterra was one of the nine Dutch scaleups to participate in Techleap.nl’s Rise programme last year.

At the time of the programme, Khokhar explained Connecterra’s vision to become a true AI-powered data platform and how it powers two applications.

Its farmer-facing application, Ida for Farmers, is an intelligent dairy assistant that uses predictive AI to “make complex, often hard-to-capture or disparate sources of data accessible and actionable for decision makers across the dairy industry.”

This AI platform now delivers insights across the dairy value chain helping farmers become more efficient, productive, and ultimately, sustainable.

While Connecterra has built the software platform, Datamars will give it the hardware equivalent through its Livestock ecosystem.

Khokhar told Silicon Canals by email that Datamars will take on future development of the Ida for Farmers product.

The Swiss company plans to bring Ida for Farmers technology into the Datamars Livestock ecosystem, and CEO Daniele Della Libera says “there is no immediate change to Ida for existing farmer customers in this market.”

With a large number of different sensors already operating across farm operations globally, Datamars will leverage Ida technology to further improve insights offered to dairy farmers.

Focus on AI data platform

With the sale of its sensor business, Ansari and Khokhar will now be able to turn their focus to its enterprise AI platform.

Called the Connecterra platform, the predictive AI solution uses high quality and timely data to deliver a transformative digital experience to dairy farmers.

Despite Datamars taking a majority share in the company, Khokhar says Connecterra will remain an independent company focussed on further development of its enterprise platform.

“Our mission is to empower the industry to increase efficiency while reducing impact on the planet,” says Khokhar. “Building out Connecterra’s platform, which includes building out our cutting-edge AI capabilities, will only help us get there faster.”

While most AI chatter seems to surround OpenAI’s ChatGPT and its rival Bard from Google, there is a growing appetite for AI-powered solutions in the enterprise market.

Even Microsoft is trying to leverage its investment in OpenAI to offer AI-powered enterprise solutions.

Connecterra does not want to stay behind and plans to build its enterprise platform to enable a wider industry footprint.

The goal, Khokhar explains, is to bring together data across the value chain, unlock insights and data driven new innovations.

He further adds that Connecterra is focused on “strengthening the foundational capabilities within the platform” and collaborating with its industry partners.

For Khokhar, Connecterra’s enterprise platform will transform into a solution that has “far-reaching potential for farmers.”

He imagines a scenario where the platform will predict the outcome of a change made by a farmer not only on the emissions footprint but also on their return on investment (ROI).

“This type of insight is a gamechanger for the industry,” he says, allowing farmers to “make informed decisions that benefit the people and the planet.”

With Datamars partnership, Connecterra will have access to the robust data it needs to build an advanced data platform.

Della Libera adds, “Datamars is committed to investing in maintaining and improving the overall value these solutions bring for farmers. Alongside the value that will come from utilising our global scale and operational footprint to optimise customer delivery, there are a number of future opportunities for farmers that will come from us leveraging our combined technologies, skills and knowledge.”