Feeds
Verdi Raises $6.5M to Bring Automation to Aging Farm Infrastructure
Verdi’s Block Controller retrofits onto existing infrastructure with no trenching or
rewiring required.
Vancouver, Canada – Verdi, the company making irrigation automation accessible to every farm, today announced it has raised $6.5 million CAD ($4.7 million USD) in its latest oversubscribed seed round, bringing total funding to $9.5 million. The round was led by SVG Ventures, with participation from NEC, Ponderosa Ventures (a member of Galvanize Climate Solutions’ platform), Elemental Impact, GenomeBC, One Small Planet, Waterpoint Lane, Dangerous Ventures, VentureUs, Echo River Capital, Cyan Ventures, Jetstream, and Baker HallCapital.
The funding follows a breakout year for Verdi, which now powers irrigation automation for some of the world’s largest food and beverage brands on more than 5,000 acres of farmland in North America. Agriculture producers have been drawn to its ability to retrofit to existing infrastructure and deliver immediate results. In 2024 alone, Verdi saved customers over $1M in irrigation labor costs while saving them over 100 million liters of water.
“Our mission is to overcome the traditional adoption barriers that have prevented farmers from scaling irrigation automation, and in turn allow them to increase farm efficiency and resilience,” said Arthur Chen, CEO and Co-founder of Verdi. “This round fuels our ability to scale rapidly and continue delivering impact where it matters most – on the farm.”
Traditionally, automating irrigation required costly and complex infrastructure upgrades, limiting widespread adoption. Verdi’s patented smart devices retrofit intelligence onto existing irrigation infrastructure, eliminating the need for disruptive rollouts. Its technology also enables advanced capabilities such as remote leak detection and row-level irrigation control.
Farms using Verdi have seen up to 90% labor savings, 70% water savings, and 20% yield improvements, while reducing automation costs by an order of magnitude. This accessible approach has fueled Verdi’s growth across the US and Canada, more than doubling its team in the past year to 24 experts in agronomy, hardware, and AI-driven software.
“We invested in Verdi because they’re solving one of agriculture’s biggest challenges – climate resilience – through a solution that is not only innovative but also practical and scalable,” said John Hartnett, CEO of SVG Ventures. “Their ability to integrate with existing farm infrastructure makes their platform a game-changer for growers looking to stay competitive in a changing
world.”
With this new investment, Verdi will continue expanding into new regions, advancing its AI-powered platform, and deepening its relationships with major agribusinesses to drive automation at scale and build a more climate-resilient food system.
New Verdi dashboard interface allows growers to schedule, monitor, and verify irrigation remotely from any device.
About Verdi
Verdi is making modern automation tools accessible to every farm on the planet. Its patented smart devices retrofit existing farm infrastructure to automate everyday tasks such as irrigation and maintenance, enabling farmers to save labor, reduce inputs, and increase yields. Verdi is trusted by the world’s largest food producers and is helping build the infrastructure for climate-resilient agriculture.
About the SVG Ventures Pioneer Fund
The Pioneer Fund is SVG Ventures’ third fund. The CAD $75 million fund supports global agrifood start-ups developing innovative and sustainable technologies. SVG Ventures | THRIVE is the leading global agrifood investment and innovation platform headquartered in Silicon Valley, and comprised of top agriculture, food & technology corporations, universities, and investors. With a community of over 8,000 startups from over 100
countries, the THRIVE platform invests, accelerates, and creates unparalleled access for entrepreneurs to scale globally to solve the biggest challenges facing the food and agriculture industries. Learn more at thriveagrifood.com.
Verdi’s New Block Controller Is the Easiest and Most Reliable Way to Automate Irrigation
Building Upon a Strong Foundation
The Verdi Block Controller is our most popular product for a reason: it makes it easy and affordable for any grower to access labor-saving irrigation automation technology and start
getting results in just one day.
The Verdi Block Controller is a wireless, battery-powered device that brings remote control and monitoring to agricultural irrigation valves and pumps.
Paired with the Verdi Dashboard and wireless soil moisture probes, it unlocks powerful features like irrigation flow verification, text alerts, sensor automation, and set-based scheduling — everything designed to help growers save labor and improve productivity.
Introducing the Next Generation
This major update builds on four years of in-field reliability and grower partnerships with upgrades to make the Block Controller even more dependable, easy to use, and capable:
- Gain complete visibility into your equipment: Confirms your solenoid actually fired and your wire isn’t severed, helping you build trust in technology.
- Connect common flowmeters: Works seamlessly with McCrometer, Seametrics and others for flow verification, water use tracking and SGMA compliance.
- Faster sensor integrations: Faster, cleaner installs for flow, pressure, moisture, and temperature sensors.
- Longer battery life: 12 months on a standard alkaline 9V, or up to 16 months with a lithium 9V.
- Quick non-technical install: Install in under 5 minutes. Connect a solenoid and scan the QR code to add to your Verdi Dashboard map.
Built for Reliability at Scale
Our mission is to make irrigation automation technology easy and affordable for all growers so more farms can benefit from this labor-saving technology.
We built the Block Controller to fill a critical gap in the market: a modern, reliable, wireless irrigation automation system that doesn’t require complex installations, high upfront costs, or specialized training.
It’s capable enough for industrial-scale infrastructure, yet simple enough for smaller operations to adopt quickly and get immediate benefits.
The new Block Controller is a significant improvement in reliability and ease of use, ensuring it can be deployed at scale.
Available Now
The new Block Controller officially launches Monday, May 12th.
Brian Borges (California) (559) 366-9237 | brian.borges@verdiag.com
Eugene Kovalenko (Pacific Northwest) (250) 328-2982 | eugene.kovalenko@verdiag.com
Gill Costa (All other regions) (530) 564-5272 | gill.costa@verdiag.com
The future of irrigation automation has arrived — and it’s never been easier to adopt. We hope you love this new update, and we look forward to sharing more exciting releases soon!
Verdi’s New Block Controller Is the Easiest and Most Reliable Way to Automate Irrigation
Building Upon a Strong Foundation
The Verdi Block Controller is our most popular product for a reason: it makes it easy and affordable for any grower to access labor-saving irrigation automation technology and start
getting results in just one day.
The Verdi Block Controller is a wireless, battery-powered device that brings remote control and monitoring to agricultural irrigation valves and pumps.
Paired with the Verdi Dashboard and wireless soil moisture probes, it unlocks powerful features like irrigation flow verification, text alerts, sensor automation, and set-based scheduling — everything designed to help growers save labor and improve productivity.
Introducing the Next Generation
This major update builds on four years of in-field reliability and grower partnerships with upgrades to make the Block Controller even more dependable, easy to use, and capable:
- Gain complete visibility into your equipment: Confirms your solenoid actually fired and your wire isn’t severed, helping you build trust in technology.
- Connect common flowmeters: Works seamlessly with McCrometer, Seametrics and others for flow verification, water use tracking and SGMA compliance.
- Faster sensor integrations: Faster, cleaner installs for flow, pressure, moisture, and temperature sensors.
- Longer battery life: 12 months on a standard alkaline 9V, or up to 16 months with a lithium 9V.
- Quick non-technical install: Install in under 5 minutes. Connect a solenoid and scan the QR code to add to your Verdi Dashboard map.
Built for Reliability at Scale
Our mission is to make irrigation automation technology easy and affordable for all growers so more farms can benefit from this labor-saving technology.
We built the Block Controller to fill a critical gap in the market: a modern, reliable, wireless irrigation automation system that doesn’t require complex installations, high upfront costs, or specialized training.
It’s capable enough for industrial-scale infrastructure, yet simple enough for smaller operations to adopt quickly and get immediate benefits.
The new Block Controller is a significant improvement in reliability and ease of use, ensuring it can be deployed at scale.
Available Now
The new Block Controller officially launches Monday, May 12th.
Brian Borges (California) (559) 366-9237 | brian.borges@verdiag.com
Eugene Kovalenko (Pacific Northwest) (250) 328-2982 | eugene.kovalenko@verdiag.com
Gill Costa (All other regions) (530) 564-5272 | gill.costa@verdiag.com
The future of irrigation automation has arrived — and it’s never been easier to adopt. We hope you love this new update, and we look forward to sharing more exciting releases soon!
Irrigation Automation That Finally Makes Sense for Wine Grape Growers
Precision irrigation automation has never been accessible for most wine grape growers. Because it’s expensive and complicated, only the largest producers with sizeable budgets could afford its benefits – until now.
Since its inception, Verdi, has thrown open the door to a high quality, affordable, user-installed irrigation automation system for wine grape growers at all levels of production.
Verdi allows irrigation to be managed on multiple properties manually, remotely, with schedules and by having farm sensors tell the system when the crops need more water. It also tells them when there’s problems, so they always know if their watering systems are functioning properly.
“Previously, we would spend up to four hours a day, turning on valves, turning on pumps, ensuring everything was working. Now, I can remotely plan out execute my whole day within fifteen or twenty minutes, which frees me up to do bigger and better things on our site.”
— Mathew Fortuna, Winemaker, 50th Parallel Estate Winery
The Verdi system solves another major pain point for growers - it doesn’t cost very much.
“It’s a wireless, battery powered, user-installed controller that makes your existing irrigation smart in just 10 minutes.” explains Roman Kozak, Verdi Co-founder and CTO. “No more time-consuming manual checking and middle of the night emergencies. The Verdi Block Controller is easy to use, reliable and super affordable. Our customers start saving time and money the day it’s installed.”
A unique aspect of the Verdi system is that it can be installed on 100 acres or more in just one day without skilled labor. The main component, the Verdi Block Controller, is a wireless controller that brings existing block valves, pumps and sensors online.
It’s design has been proven to work at scale with the world's biggest growers, while attending to the needs of smallest growers. This means that it installs quickly and easily without any digging, has a years-long battery life, and provides reliable connectivity across long distances and throughout varied, sometimes rugged terrains. It is suitable for submersion, continuous UV exposure and performs even under extreme temperature. It is a made-for-scale device, providing easy management and maintenance monitoring for thousands of devices in the field.
And all of your farm’s irrigation equipment, all of the data that comes in from sensors, can now be controlled and monitored down to every crop row with sub-block precision from any location, because you can do it all from your phone.
It is no surprise that the Verdi Block Controller has become the company’s most sought-after product. Customers, both large scale and small, are increasingly impressed by the ways Verdi Ag technology has transformed their practices.
“With previous irrigation systems, we weren't able to really give each vine exactly what it needed. At Tantalus we have a number of different soil profiles. We have different vines with different needs in terms of water. Verdi allows us to apply more water or less in a very efficient and easy way.”
— Scott Woodie, Vineyard Manager, Tantalus Vineyards
“We installed Verdi on a couple of our properties, which historically had been difficult to manage as far as irrigation and immediately I noticed just the labor cost savings overall.”
— Stephanie Adamson, Irrigation Technician, Quails Gate Winery
Kozak emphasizes that there’s two reasons that Verdi is growing so quickly. They have an ironclad commitment to customer service and they guarantee customers will be satisfied.
“We recognize that our customers need after sales support. Every piece of equipment has our phone number and email address listed in both Spanish and English,” Kozak attests. “With Verdi, we’re monitoring your system remotely. If there’s an issue and it’s with our system, we’ll have boots on the ground, we will absolutely be out there to fix it.”
Verdi also guarantees you'll be satisfied with their irrigation automation system and if you're not - they’'ll take it back. Roman says “Irrigation automation systems that require digging, or installation of new equipment - they could never make that promise. If you buy the wrong system, or it doesn't work the way you think it will - you're stuck with it. The Verdi system is risk-free, it’s what growers need right now.”
For more information on Verdi, any of its products or to request a demo, go to: www.verdi.ag.
Get Your Irrigation Automation Questions Answered Anytime
In the world of irrigation automation, information is held hostage by gatekeepers.
When something goes wrong, you need quick answers.
Not being able to get them is frustrating.
Paying for them is even worse.
Part of our core mission is to make irrigation automation easy, so that anyone can use it:
Any farm.
Anywhere.
Any education.
Anyone on the farm.
That’s why remote phone, text, and email support is included with all Verdi products.
But we wanted to take it a step further - and it’s here:
Verdi Docs AI -> Get your questions answered anytime.
✔️ 24/7 access - whether it's about scheduling irrigation or troubleshooting a valve issue.
✔️ Any Language: Ask your questions in any language, and get responses in your preferred language, breaking down barriers and making information accessible to all.
✔️ DIY: With step-by-step instructions and feature explanations, you can handle issues on your own schedule, without having to rely on external help.
What can you do with it?
➕ Schedule Irrigations: Get step-by-step guidance on setting up your irrigation schedules.
➕ Troubleshoot Issues: Find quick fixes for common problems like non-opening valves.
➕ Monitor Systems: Easily check if your system is online.
➕ Manage Irrigations: Learn how to stop irrigations or calculate field capacity thresholds.
➕ Understand Compatibility: Discover which solenoids work with the Verdi Block Controller.
➕ Explore Features: Get detailed insights into the main features of Verdi.
Does Verdi have the best customer experience in Agtech?
Our customers say we do.
Why don’t you become one and find out ;)
Say Goodbye to Manual Irrigation – Discover Verdi’s Automation Solutions
Verdi’s mission is to make modern irrigation automation accessible to all growers, regardless of vineyard size or type of irrigation system — even manual systems can be automated.
Most automation solutions for irrigation are expensive and tailored toward the upper tier of vineyard operations. Existing systems also fail to address the worsening conditions farmers face, including labor shortages and environmental concerns such as droughts, water scarcity and new water usage monitoring requirements from the government.
Yet, every grower needs to reduce water costs and waste and the time their team spends patrolling the vineyards for valve malfunctions and line breaks, as well as improve the quality and yield of their crop.
As Verdi’s founders, CTO Roman Kozak and CEO Arthur Chen, worked to solve these problems, they realized the solution was to make the latest technology affordable and simple enough for farmers to install themselves.
“Arthur and I have spent the last four years talking with farmers and walking their farms with them,” says Kozak.“We saw how many problems they face and knew we could lighten that load by making automation more attainable and user-friendly.”
The result is the ultra-low power wireless Verdi Block Controller that automates five critical tasks for farmers:
- View soil moisture and environmental data
- Create data-informed schedules
- Control valves and pumps
- Detect leaks and breaks
- Keep an accurate water record
The Verdi Block Controller is a compact, integrated device with fewer components. It doesn’t require buried wires, large gateway towers, external solar panels or antennas. It lets farmers control and monitor irrigation valves and flow meters quickly and seamlessly from an app on their computer or mobile device.
Some of the largest agricultural producers in the world use Verdi’s solutions, including Gallo, The Wonderful Company and Arterra, Canada’s largest wine company. So, too, do smaller wineries throughout North America, including Quails’ Gate, with 160 acres in the Okanagan Valley, Realm Cellars, with 75 acres in Napa, and Tantalus Vineyards, with 37 acres. It also works with crops other than grapes, from berries to cannabis.
“Verdi gives you the freedom to remotely turn on valves day or night, saving you water and time,” says Nelson Dutra at Arterra Wines. “The system has been super reliable for controlling our irrigation valves.”
Winemaker Matthew Fortuna at 50th Parallel Estate Winery in Lake County, BC, adds, “Before Verdi, I would spend up to four hours a day turning on valves, turning on pumps, ensuring everything was working on our 50-acre vineyard. Now I can remotely plan and execute my irrigations within 15 or 20 minutes, which has really freed me up to do bigger and better things on our site.”
Learn more about how you can implement modern irrigation automation for your farm at Verdi Ag’s WIN Expo booth #200.
Effortless Automation. Finally
The Next Generation of Irrigation Tech Detects Clogged Emitters and Eliminates Crop Variability
Vineyard management has never been easy and crop variability is one persistent issue that has not been resolved.
Having successfully proven the technology for multiple seasons with industry leaders like E&J Gallo, Arterra, and UC Davis, Verdi has distinguished itself as the first and only commercially available solution for variable rate irrigation in vineyards.
Verdi has demonstrated significant ROI from its cutting-edge solution through higher yield and improved quality by eliminating crop variability due to soil type, elevation, vine maturity, and variety.
According to Roman Kozak, CTO and co-founder of Verdi, the technology his company has developed is able to finetune water and fertilizer applications in a way not previously possible.
“Within an existing irrigation zone, we are able to give more water to the vines that need it and less water to the vines that don’t need as much.”
“We engineered this very low-cost hardware that connects to the drip tubing on every single vineyard row,” Kozak explains. “It allows you to control an monitor as fine of a section as you want. You could get down to every single vine actually receiving a unique amount of water. That’s what’s possible with this technology.”
Verdi’s variable rate irrigation.
“We make it possible to give different irrigation strategies to vines in the same row,” Kozak confirms. “With other standard technologies, everything has to get the exact same amount of water. But if you have baby vines planted throughout your vineyard, we can give those baby vines a different amount of water than your mature vines.”
The same technology Verdi has developed for eliminating crop variability is also pioneering the way for widespread irrigation automation in vineyards. Verdi is the only company that can detect clogged or missing emitters in addition to fully automating existing valves and pumps. In contrast, automation systems on the market today only focus on automating valves and pumps which saves some labor but workers are still need to check for drip line or emitter leaks and breaks. Furthermore new value is unlocked with the Verdi Software Platform, such as automation based on prediction, using data from sensors on the field and remote imagery.
Verdi’s row level irrigation automation with drip line break and emitter clog detection.
Since its inception four years ago, Verdi has distinguished itself as the premier, modern-day platform for farm automation with continuous updates and local in-field support.
For more information on Verdi, to request a demo or to join the waitlist, go to: https://www.verdi.ag
Contact Roman at (650) 334-7838 and roman.kozak@verdi.ag
Verdi's Modern Software Platform
Vineyards Irrigation Verdi Ag Verdi Vineyard Management Software Platform
A Turning Point in Vineyard Care: Targeted Irrigation Eliminates Crop Variability
Vineyards challenge grape growers with variations in soil type, elevation, and variety. Grape growers respond by compensating for weak spots that hamper vine vigor and delay the ripening. To accomplish this, they often rely on practices like regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) and tools like automation.
RDI limits the timing and amount of water applied, thus managing berry size and fruit concentration to control the organoleptic precursors in the grapes. Automated irrigation systems help growers save on labor costs and water consumption. However, applying deficit irrigation below the block level hasn’t been possible in a systematic, affordable way.
Verdi’s variable rate irrigation system installed on a vineyard in California.
However, the newly launched Verdi has invented a way to accomplish just that. With past experience researching precision agriculture with Google, Verdi’s co-founders have developed the first commercially-viable technology for variable rate irrigation and fertigation in specialty crops.
Verdi retrofits smart devices along irrigation lines to split vineyard blocks into smaller zones according to vigor maps produced from its software. These discrete zones give growers the flexibility to increase irrigation and fertigation in areas of low vigor while restricting them in areas of high vigor.
Arterra Wines, Canada’s largest wine company, implemented Verdi’s precision management system with dramatic results. It reduced water usage by 60% in some zones and resulted in all grapes across the vineyard ripening at the same time — allowing a single harvest pass. Grape quality also improved, allowing Arterra to upgrade one zone from $12 per bottle to a more premium price tier of $30 per bottle, thus increasing revenue by 8% per acre.
Verdi’s automated valve control with pressure and flow verification. Installed on a premium vineyard.
The research director at a top three global wine company assessed its experience with Verdi’s solution as “the industry leader in variable rate irrigation technology”. The affordable controllers easily attach to a vineyard’s existing drip lines, taking less than two minutes each to install, and existing irrigation infrastructure remains in the hands of the growers.
They can also use Verdi’s software on their mobile devices or PCs to monitor pressure and flow sensors, soil moisture and electric connectivity, weather station data, NDVI imagery from satellites and much more. A glance at their phones from anywhere shows water volume on individual irrigation lines and confirms that irrigation schedules are executing correctly.
Verdi’s Director of Software, Andy Tewfik provides support and listens to feedback from vineyard customer. “We founded our company with the goal of eliminating variability within vineyard blocks,” says Roman Kozak, co-founder and CTO of Verdi. “But as we spoke with growers, they identified soil moisture and weather data as critical data for determining when and how long to irrigate to mitigate vines’ water stress. We integrated them, and our solution has evolved into a general-purpose platform to help farmers adapt to climate change.”
If your vineyard block has a weak spot or a high one, Verdi’s patent-pending platform can break it into whatever shape and size you need to apply differential irrigation.
Variable Rate Irrigation by Verdi
About
We make modern automation tools for every farmer on the planet.
Together, we can empower farmers to build a more resilient future.
Our mission
Climate change is already here and agriculture is at ground zero. From extreme weather to drought, climate change is creating unprecedented challenges for the agriculture industry. That's why now, more than ever, it's crucial to develop solutions to help the multi-trillion dollar agriculture industry to transition to resilient farming.
Here at Verdi, we are building the technology and business platform to help the agriculture industry to not simply survive, but to thrive in the post-climate change world.
Contact
Contact List
| Title | Name | Phone | Extension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No contacts found | ||||
Location List
| Locations | Address | State | Country | Zip Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verdi | 310-2285 Clark Dr, Vancouver | BC | Canada | V5N3G9 |
List of Locations
Profile Picture