Agri-Trak

Market position

Positioned as a farmer-built alternative to general agricultural SaaS tools, emphasizing H-2A reporting and compliance, offline field operation, and specialty crops that have not been well served by machine- or drone-based monitoring and harvesting. A company executive named Hectre as another agtech SaaS company in the sector.

Founded and led by a fifth-generation apple grower with an IT background; offline-capable field applications for rural areas without cell coverage; H-2A contract, prevailing wage, piece-rate and overtime compliance tooling; supplied field hardware; and an integrated record set spanning labor, payroll, food safety and chemical applications.

Technology

Cloud-based platform with desktop, tablet and mobile applications that function offline without cell service or Wi-Fi. The tablet app uses NFC ("Agri-Tap") fobs for worker clock-in/clock-out. Time records can be linked to GPS coordinates and to a multi-level farm structure of farms, locations, blocks and rows, with batch record creation, cloning, filtering, configurable 15-minute rounding and export into payroll. Food safety records support photo documentation and GPS timestamps. As of 2023 the app was distributed through the Google Play Store, with iPad support planned, and the company stated a roadmap toward AI and machine learning for predictive and prescriptive analytics on aggregated farm data.

Go-to-market

Direct sales with online demo booking and self-serve sign-up, supported by a sales lead and customer success function. Adoption initially spread by word of mouth among farms near the founder's own operation. The company uses partnerships and integrations (labor contractor DeMay Labor, Lake Ontario Ag Consulting, Munckhof, Harvust) as distribution and product channels, and has used startup competitions and accelerators for visibility, including presenting at TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield in 2023 and reaching the Round Three finals of the Grow-NY competition in 2021.

Small and medium-sized family farms in the United States, particularly specialty crop growers of apples, cherries, peaches, nuts and berries, and operations employing H-2A federally sponsored migrant workers alongside domestic workers. Named customers include Donald DeMarree Fruit Farm (Williamson, NY), Sorbello and Sons Farms (Fulton, NY), Williams Cattle (Marion, NY) and Fish Farm Market (Shortsville, NY).

Geography

Headquartered in Pultneyville, New York (4137 Mill Street, PO Box 75, Pultneyville, NY 14538). Customers cited are in New York State towns including Williamson, Fulton, Marion and Shortsville, and the company was reported to serve farms in four states.

History

Founded in 2020 and, per the founder, spent roughly four years building the technology and platform. In 2021 the company was a Round Three finalist and Audience Choice winner for most innovative pitch in the Grow-NY food innovation and agriculture technology competition. Jason Hill joined as co-founder and CRO, having previously been VP of sales at agtech SaaS company Hectre. The company closed a $200,000 seed round led by Mucker Capital in June 2023 and presented at TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield in September 2023, when it stated plans to raise a Series A the following year. Sonneville participated in the Techstars accelerator and the Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab, and subsequently received funding through Empire State Development's New York Ventures programs supported by the State Small Business Credit Initiative, including the Pre-Seed and Seed Matching Fund and the Community and Regional Partner Fund via Launch NY. The leadership team listed on the site includes Sonneville as CEO, Victor Brown (Head of Sales), Kelly Erwin (Director of Customer Success), Nicolas Falco (Product Manager & QA) and Alek Reynolds (Student Intern), with an advisory group including William Abdo, Jennifer Rivera, Kaye Stone, Mike D'Eredita, Eric Krohn, Kelly Roark and Jason Hill.

Risks & controversies

Disclosed venture funding is small relative to a stated plan to raise a Series A, and the customer base reported in public coverage was concentrated in a small number of farms in New York State. The product's value depends significantly on the continuation of the federal H-2A agricultural worker program, which a company executive described as essential to many of its customers' survival. Traction figures such as satisfaction scores, acres tracked and efficiency savings are company-reported. The about page displays inconsistent revenue growth figures (12% and 100%).