Nestrom

Nestrom is a technology company based in Amman, Jordan that builds cloud-based software and Industrial IoT products for capturing operational data, processing it in real time and turning it into actionable information for enterprises. Its original product suite targeted agriculture and included farm management software for reporting and tracking information on each field within a farm, a workforce management system that tracks open-field worker movement and activity types using low-end Android devices, and connected sensors with remote online access and parameter-based alerting. The stated aim was to convert traditional farming into more controlled, "factory-like" operations, i.e. smart farms.

The company subsequently broadened beyond agriculture into what it describes as the service execution management category, after a resort management company applied its technology to property facility management. In this positioning, Nestrom's platform is used to reduce unexpected downtime, improve internal communication, provide more efficient access to large operational data sets, and raise productivity, quality and safety. Data is collected through multiple channels, including IoT sensors, with the stated goal of reducing human error and improving output with fewer resources and less time.

Founding story

Founder Yousef Wadi, a computer engineering graduate of the German-Jordanian University in Madaba and Finland's University of Tampere, previously worked at Microsoft and Yahoo, placed second at the Microsoft Imagine Cup (winning $75,000), founded several startups including one acquired by Yahoo, and co-founded ArabiaWeather in 2012, where he remained a partner. He began a new agritech venture in 2017, spending most of that year conceptualising the idea and roadmap before Kanaan Manasrah, who specialises in machine learning, and Shadi Shalabi, who has a background in smartphone software development, joined as co-founders. Zaid Al-Farekh, founder and partner of Propeller, made the first investment of about $100,000.

Business model

Nestrom sells a suite of SaaS and Industrial IoT products (software subscriptions combined with connected sensor hardware) to enterprise clients that operate distributed field or facility operations.

Revenue derives from enterprise sales of its software suite and connected sensor systems to farm operators and, later, to companies in other asset- and field-service-heavy sectors.

Traction

By May 2019 the company reported about a dozen clients with more than 1,000 direct users across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt. A deployment with Alshaya Group, the Starbucks franchisee in Jordan, was reported to have improved efficiency by up to 60 per cent and reduced paper consumption to near zero. Earlier products were in use by large agricultural operators in Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

Latest developments

In April 2019 Nestrom completed the three-month Techstars Dubai accelerator programme and was in the process of establishing offices in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, targeting Egypt and Saudi Arabia as priority markets while expanding its platform from agriculture into broader service execution management.