Octopusbot, a Sydney agtech startup that uses AI to predict grain harvests, has raised more than $1 million in its first funding round, backed by Folklore Ventures and No Brand.

Founded in 2020 by engineers Carolina Ferreira and Rodrigo Cortes, the platform ingests historical yield data, satellite imagery, weather records and commodity-market signals to forecast crop production, supply risk and price direction. They claim 95%-plus accuracy up to seven months ahead of official estimates. That lead time is the heart of the pitch, letting growers, traders, food producers and fertiliser companies act before prices move rather than after.

The six-year-old company now has 100-plus customers globally, covers more than a million hectares in Australia, and has partnered with agricultural services firm Elders.