“You don’t grow by thinking; you grow by doing. Just start”
Maryanne Gichanga, Co-founder and CEO, AgriTech Analytics
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Founding year: 2020
Number of employees: 15
Website: AgriTech Analytics
Revenue: USD 437,000 (2023)
Investment ask: USD 350,000 (debt)
Investment needed to:
- Increase stock of IoT crop and soil sensors for distribution to farmers on waiting list
- Upgrade IoT sensors for detection of greater number of crop pests and plant diseases as well as reduced soil testing lead time
- Optimize technology deployment
- Refine data analytics, improve user experience, tailor solutions to specific regional needs
- Establish demo farms and invest in farmer training programs on precision agriculture, sustainable farming practices and financial management
Products and services:
- Solar-powered IoT soil and crop sensors: devices using Internet of Things (IoT) technology perform on-site soil tests to capture parameters like moisture, pH, nutrient level and temperature. Sensors also detect crop pests and diseases. Reports and alerts are sent to farmers’ phones via SMS. Sensors can be purchased or leased.
- AI-driven analytics platform: combines data from sensors with satellite imagery for analysis. AI analysis generates real-time data for soil management, optimizing crop health, and enabling early response to pests and diseases.
- FarmPulse App: mobile application helping smallholder farmers identify plant diseases, pests and nutrient deficiencies affecting crops and offers corresponding treatment measures. Users simply take a picture of the affected plant and upload it to the app for analysis. For improved accuracy, uploaded data are combined with satellite imagery.
- Training and support services: on-site training of farmers on soil and crop management and use of smart technology.
Enterprise portrait
Growing up in rural Kenya, Maryanne Gichanga witnessed first hand the struggles of smallholder farmers. Her father took out a loan to pay her school fees, expecting to repay it with earnings from the seasonal harvest. When his crop failed, he was forced to auction off the family’s livestock and water tanks, plunging her family into economic hardship. Maryanne soon realized that her family's experience was not unique. Unpredictable rainfall patterns pose an immense challenge for millions of farmers in Kenya, while many face destruction of upwards of 60% of their crops due to late detection of pest and disease outbreaks. Determined to change this reality, Maryanne set out to help smallholder farmers build resilience and secure their futures. This was the inspiration behind AgriTech Analytics Limited.
AgriTech Analytics delivers technology and services to farmers that enable them to gain meaningful insights and optimize resource use for improved management of soil, pests and diseases. The company combines solar-powered Internet of Things (IoT) sensors with satellite data and AI to monitor conditions and inform farmers’ decisions on irrigation, fertilization, crop selection and pest control. The IoT sensors monitor soil conditions and presence of pests and diseases. In conjunction, satellite imagery provides information on weather conditions and detects crop stress from local environmental factors. An AI-powered platform processes the data and sends farmers real-time data and advice to their mobile phones, allowing for early detection and response before problems develop.
By equipping farmers with predictive analytics based on historical weather patterns and current conditions, AgriTech Analytics supports farmers to adapt their strategies, whether this means adjusting planting times, preventing a pest outbreak, or selecting more resilient crop varieties. This information farmers received reduces risk of crop loss while empowering them to use resources more efficiently while still improving yields. The company has sought to raise awareness about combining modern technology with traditional knowledge by working with local radio stations and engaging directly with community leaders, county agricultural offices, farmer cooperatives and women’s groups. The company now operates in 4 counties in Kenya and works closely with close to 8,000 farmers (as of 2025). On average, farmers increase their yields by 75% after just one year of working with AgriTech Analytics and also experience a 63% reduction of input costs.
Key commercial activities
- Manufacturing of sensors: AgriTech Analytics assembles its IoT sensors in Kenya.
- Development and maintenance of digital services: Agritech Analytics operates and continuously develops their AI-driven analytics platform used for aggregating and analysing data from farms with satellite imagery to generate insights and recommendations. The company also maintains and updates the FarmPulse App, which provides real-time tailored insights directly to farmers’ phones. The same goes for the company’s Crop Yield Prediction Tool, used by farmers to acquire bank loans.
- Sale and leasing of equipment: Agritech Analytics both sells and leases its solar-powered IoT sensors to farmers. The company leases a sensor for USD 3.8 per month for the first 6 months. Afterwards, farmers pay through a revenue-sharing model of 0.5% of total revenues per year.
- Training and support services: Agritech Analytics provides training and support services to guide farmers to put data insights into action. The company helps farmers understand weather patterns and identify the most appropriate time to plough or harvest. Farmers are also supported in restoration of their soils through application of organic inputs or conventional inputs in a targeted and controlled manner.
Plans to grow the business
AgriTech Analytics has been on a steady upwards trajectory with growth in sales averaging a 14.2% increase from 2021 to 2023. The company is focused on increasing the number of monthly users to 20,000 and expand from 4 to 8 drought-prone counties in Kenya. The company also has the ambition to expand into Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana and Nigeria.
The company is in the process of updating its IoT devices so these can detect 2,000 different crop pests and 1,950 crop diseases. The upgraded devices will also have a faster soil analysis time. In the same spirit of continuous improvement, they are presently piloting a project with the University of Edinburgh to refine their IoT technology’s predictive capacity.
AgriTech Analytics will bring on board experts to help optimize deployment of technology and scaling strategies, which will involve improving data analytics and user experience and tailoring solutions to specific regional contexts.
Agroecology impact highlights
AgriTech Analytics’ innovative solutions help farmers put into practice the agroecological principle of input reduction. It is not uncommon for farmers to over-water and over-fertilize their soils, causing accelerated soil erosion and nutrient leaching. Excessive use of synthetic fertilizers in particular has negative consequences for soil health. Moreover, failure to detect crop diseases and pests early on typically results in higher costs and environmental damage. Late-stage interventions often require stronger pesticides or fungicides, which are costlier than early preventive measures. Such control products can also negatively affect soil health and future crop productivity.
Providing farmers with actionable insights about the conditions of their soils and crops allows them to make informed decisions about irrigation schedules, fertilization practices and control of pests and diseases. By helping farmers foster a greater understanding of key factors like soil characteristics, nutrient needs of crops and presence of pests and diseases, AgriTech Analytics has helped farmers improve overall farm management and cut down their costs on farm inputs by 63%. By the same token, farmers who’ve worked with AgriTech Analytics for just one year have on average increased their yields by 75%.
Current challenges
Many smallholder farmers have low levels of literacy, which makes it challenging for them to fully utilize AgriTech Analytics’ services. On top of this, many farmers are sceptical about the use of digital tools in farming. These adoption challenges require continuous farmer training to establish trust and facilitate the use of AI-powered solutions. Limited penetration of mobile phone services in rural areas is another challenge to adoption.
AgriTech Analytics is also learning to navigate the different regulatory environments of markets beyond Kenya, namely Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria. Moreover, while the company has ambitions to grow, AgriTech Analytics is currently limited by insufficient capital. The high costs of technology development, deployment, and farmer training require more funding.
Financing track record
AgriTech Analytics started out in 2020 as entirely self-funded through business revenue. The business has since gained recognition for its innovation and positive impacts, earning it distinctions and grants. In 2022, AgriTech Analytics was a winner of the African Youth Adaptation Solutions Challenge (YouthADAPT Challenge). The company was also a recipient of the prestigious 2023 Kenyan Presidential Innovation Award, for which they received the 2nd Runner-Up prize of KES 2,000,000. In 2024, AgriTech CEO Maryanne Gichanga emerged as the winner of the Ye! Youth Ecopreneur Programme for showcasing a cutting edge approach to land restoration. For this the company received a USD 50,000 grant. In the same year, AgriTech Analytics earned 2nd place at the Agroecological Food Futures Prize and brought home a USD 10,000 grant plus USD 5,000 worth of technical assistance.