TeleSense

TeleSense is an agriculture technology company that combines wireless environmental sensors with data science software to monitor stored and in-transit agricultural commodities. Its sensors continuously measure temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide inside storage units and transmit readings to the TeleSense app, which applies machine learning to detect conditions associated with spoilage such as hotspots, excess moisture, mold and pests. The app provides 24/7 access to storage data, a consolidated view of all storage units, 3D visualization of a unit, in-app sensor placement, alerts for high-risk conditions and recommendations on when to run bin fans for drying and conditioning. The company positions the approach as an alternative to manual inspections and traditional temperature cables, which it describes as complex, time-consuming and expensive; it also retrofits conventional temperature cables to make them wireless.

Product lines cover grain bin monitoring (BinShield), ground piles and bunkers with aeration, grain transportation monitoring including location tracking, potato storage monitoring, and other storage formats such as flat storages, grain bags, warehouses and crates. For grain, the company offers grain conditioning for aerated bins and silos, CO2-based spoilage detection for bins and silos, and risk-zone detection for piles and bunkers, covering corn, soybean, wheat, sorghum, canola and barley. For potatoes, it monitors air entering and exiting storage to build a view of the whole unit and reduce sprouting or decay; for seeds, it monitors conditions relevant to preserving germination capacity. Another product, CellularSpear, is a wireless temperature and moisture sensor the company says can be installed in about 30 seconds.

The underlying stack is described as internet-of-things sensing with real-time environmental monitoring and cloud-based artificial intelligence, applied to digitizing the post-harvest grain supply chain for both stationary and moving assets.

Founding story

Co-founder Naeem Zafar, an electrical engineer and serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur, started TeleSense to apply IoT and AI technologies to agriculture and to make post-harvest grain data broadly available to growers, grain handlers and traders. He had previously co-founded and led Bitzer Mobile, acquired by Oracle in 2013. Co-founder Nick Garner, previously ten years at Cisco Systems and four years on active duty in the Marines, built the original full-stack TeleSense platform and hardware. Company materials state Zafar started TeleSense in 2014, while several company profiles give a founding year of 2013.

Business model

TeleSense sells sensor hardware paired with its cloud-based monitoring application for storage and transportation of agricultural commodities. Following its 2020 Series B, the company said it was working toward a "cable company model" in which customers subscribe to the service and receive a box of hardware, intended to lower the barrier to trial and support global expansion.

Hardware plus software monitoring offering, with a stated intent to move toward a subscription service model bundling hardware delivery.

Traction

The company reports adoption by some of the largest US grain businesses for storage and transportation monitoring and cites a "surge in demand" as the rationale for scaling its products after the Series B, including tripling its sales team over six months. Third-party profiles list an employee range of 11-20 and an estimated annual revenue figure of $4.5 million, which is described as an estimate rather than a reported result.

Latest developments

Following the 2020 Series B, TeleSense said funding would be used to scale product offerings, reduce costs, develop new products and expand its global sales presence, including additional salespeople in Europe and a dealer network. Current product marketing spans BinShield grain bin monitoring, ground pile and bunker monitoring, transportation monitoring, potato storage and other storage units.