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Australian agricultural technology company BioScout has raised A$6.75 million ($4.8 million) in seed funding to expand an artificial intelligence-powered system designed to detect fungal pathogens in crops before visible signs of disease emerge.
The Sydney-based startup, which specialises in precision agriculture and crop disease monitoring, said the fresh investment would support its expansion into Europe and help increase the number of sensors deployed across its global network from about 250 to 1,000 by 2029.
The funding round was co-led by Demea Sustainable Investment and Astanor, with additional backing from GrainInnovate, GrainCorp Ventures, Hort Innovation Venture Fund, Artesian and Division Q.
The investment comes as farmers face growing pressure from crop diseases, rising input costs and concerns over the effectiveness of conventional fungicide programmes. BioScout says its technology can help growers make more informed decisions about when and where to apply crop protection products, potentially reducing unnecessary spraying while limiting disease-related losses.
BioScout founder and chief executive officer Lewis Collins said the company’s technology is designed to give farmers an early warning of disease threats in much the same way that weather systems provide warnings ahead of severe storms.
The system continuously samples the air around crops and captures airborne particles, including fungal spores, using a specialised sensor. The collected material is placed under a microscope, which captures hundreds of high-resolution images.
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Those images are then transmitted to BioScout’s headquarters, where artificial intelligence models trained to recognise different fungal spores analyse them.
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The resulting information is combined with environmental data such as temperature, humidity, rainfall, atmospheric pressure, wind speed and wind direction to help determine the likelihood of disease developing in a crop over the following days.
Collins said the objective is to identify threats before farmers can see physical symptoms on plants, allowing them to take action at an earlier stage.
Farmers commonly rely on routine fungicide programmes, applying treatments at predetermined intervals even when they have no confirmation that a particular pathogen is present.
BioScout argues that this approach can lead to unnecessary chemical use because visible signs of infection may only become apparent after a pathogen has already reproduced and begun spreading.
By the time lesions or other symptoms appear, growers may be forced to use more expensive curative fungicides in an attempt to contain an established infection.
The company says its technology instead allows growers to monitor changes in spore levels and respond to disease risks based on real-time information rather than relying solely on a fixed spraying calendar.
According to Collins, the approach could reduce fungicide costs by as much as 50% in some high-value crops, potentially generating savings of thousands of dollars per hectare.
