Osborne Clarke has advised the shareholders of the AI company Peat GmbH on its sale to Helm AG. In doing so, the start-up aims to lead the digital transformation in agriculture towards environmentally and economically sustainable farming.
HELM, a globally leading, family-owned multifunctional distributor, already invested in the agritech startup Plantix (registered as: PEAT GmbH) in 2020, based on the shared ambition to enable smallholder farmers worldwide to farm more efficiently and sustainably. Now Helm will become the majority shareholder with immediate effect to work together on this vision.
Core value of Plantix’s fully digital solution is the picture-based app for disease recognition and a platform to spread best farming practices. The app covers 30 major crops, detects over 600 plant damages, is available in 18 languages, and has over 20 million downloads worldwide already. In addition, Plantix has built an ecosystem for retailers to connect the farmer’s needs with supply and financing. The services are offered for free.
Helm and Plantix are dedicated to making technology accessible, reducing environmental impact and enhancing productivity. The potential is vast: The UN estimate that more than 500 million smallholder farmers are forming the backbone of local food production today.
“Today is a great day for us and the farmers and suppliers we serve. Together with HELM, we can strongly continue our vision to lead the digital transformation in agriculture towards environmentally and economically sustainable farming”, adds Simone Strey, founder and CEO of Plantix.
Top technology investors, including Atlantic Labs, Happiness Capital, Index Ventures, Piton Capital and RTP Global, among others, had backed Plantix so far.
The Osborne Clarke team that advised the Plantix shareholders, led by Robin Eyben, consisted of Alexandra Nautsch, Joanna Chudzinski, Dana Alpar (all Corporate/M&A), Joachim Breithaupt, Florian Merkle, Patrick Seiler, Jan-Niklas Buttermann (all Tax), Olexiy Oleshchuk, Arsen Dutka (both Financing), Dr Sebastian Hack (Antitrust), Robert Briske (IP) and Karina Naumann (Employment).
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