Gro Intelligence

Gro Intelligence, an agricultural data platform founded in Kenya in 2012, shut down in 2024 after failing to secure enough capital to continue operations.^12345611 The company raised over $125 million, including an $85 million Series B round in 2021, but faced a fundamental mismatch between its product and the market.¹²⁴⁸⁹ Following layoffs and leadership changes, Gro Intelligence faced lawsuits from former employees and an SEC investigation into alleged investor fraud.¹⁵¹⁴¹⁵

Timeline

Money raised

Gro Intelligence raised over $125 million in its lifetime.² In July 2017, Gro Intelligence raised a $17 million Series A round led by TPG Growth.⁹ In October 2017, Gro Intelligence raised an undisclosed Series A round led by TPG Growth with participation from Data Collective and family offices.¹² In May 2019, Gro Intelligence raised a $10 million Series A round from Almanac Insights and GGV Capital.⁹ In January 2021, Gro Intelligence raised an $85 million Series B round co-led by Intel Capital and Africa Internet Ventures, with a post-money valuation of $694 million.¹²⁸⁹¹¹ In March 2024, Gro Intelligence raised $10 million in emergency funding.²

Investors named in the sources: Intel Capital¹²⁸⁹¹¹, Africa Internet Ventures¹²⁸⁹¹¹, TPG Growth⁸⁹¹², EchoVC Partners⁸⁹, DCVC⁸⁹¹¹, GGV Capital⁸⁹¹¹, Ronald Lauder⁸⁹, Eric Zinterhofer⁸⁹, Schusterman Family Investments⁸⁹, Dick Parsons⁸⁹, Rethink Food⁸⁹¹¹, Almanac Insights⁹¹¹, One Planet Group⁹, Payam Zamani⁹, Bossa Invest⁹, Concrete Rose Capital¹¹, Fine Day Ventures¹¹, Liontree Partners¹¹, Morevc¹¹.

What happened

Gro Intelligence was founded by Sara Menker in Kenya in 2012.¹²¹⁴ The company was also reported to have been founded in 2014 with offices in New York and Nairobi.⁹¹¹¹² Gro Intelligence aimed to build the world's largest agricultural data platform.¹¹⁴ The company aggregated data from governments, trade organizations, weather agencies, and financial markets to provide insights on agriculture and climate.¹⁴⁸¹² Gro Intelligence processed over 40,000 datasets and more than 650 trillion data points.⁸⁹

The company served clients including Unilever, other packaged food companies, and quantitative and fundamental commodities investors.¹⁴ Gro Intelligence raised a $17 million Series A round led by TPG Growth in July 2017.⁹ In October 2017, the company raised an undisclosed Series A round led by TPG Growth with participation from Data Collective and family offices.¹² In May 2019, Gro Intelligence raised a $10 million Series A round from Almanac Insights and GGV Capital.⁹ In January 2021, Gro Intelligence raised an $85 million Series B round co-led by Intel Capital and Africa Internet Ventures, with a post-money valuation of $694 million.¹²⁸⁹¹¹

The company was named one of TIME's 100 most influential companies in 2021.¹⁴⁵ Gro Intelligence generated the bulk of its revenues from Unilever.¹ The company attempted to engage the US government and other countries but only picked up bits and pieces of business.¹ A former employee cited a fundamental mismatch between the product and the market as a key problem.¹⁴ Gro Intelligence faced a challenging funding environment and struggled to produce reasonable financials on a quarterly basis.¹

In February 2024, founder Sara Menker was replaced as CEO by James Cariello.¹²⁵¹⁴ Employees were told that Gro was unable to make payroll in February 2024.¹ In March 2024, Gro Intelligence laid off 60% of its staff and secured some eleventh-hour funding.¹⁵ The company raised $10 million in March 2024, according to the Wall Street Journal.² The company was being sued by former employees over alleged violations of labor laws requiring advance written notice of mass layoffs.¹

On April 1, 2024, former employees Jake Bielefeldt and Simon Firestone filed a class action lawsuit alleging violations of the WARN Act.¹⁵ The class action lawsuit claimed that Gro Intelligence abruptly terminated two-thirds of its workforce without the required 60-day notice.¹⁴ The class action also alleged that Gro failed to provide pay stubs on several occasions in 2023 and early 2024.¹⁴ Allison Tepley filed a lawsuit against Gro Intelligence and Sara Menker alleging discrimination, retaliation, and a hostile work environment.¹⁴ Gro Intelligence announced cessation of operations on May 31, 2024.¹¹

AgFunderNews reported on June 1, 2024, that Gro Intelligence was closing down after failing to secure enough capital.¹ Semafor reported on June 4, 2024, that Gro Intelligence shut down after failing to secure financing to continue operations.² A skeleton crew was kept on to wind things down.¹ One former employee suspected that someone would get the IP for pennies on the dollar.¹ The company's assets were acquired by Almanac post-liquidation, according to one source.⁹

Legal outcomes

• filedFormer employees Jake Bielefeldt and Simon Firestone filed a class action lawsuit against Gro Intelligence alleging violations of the WARN Act.¹⁵
• filedThe class action lawsuit claimed that Gro Intelligence abruptly terminated two-thirds of its workforce without the required 60-day notice.¹⁴
• filedThe class action also alleged that Gro failed to provide pay stubs on several occasions in 2023 and early 2024.¹⁴
• filedAllison Tepley filed a lawsuit against Gro Intelligence and Sara Menker alleging discrimination, retaliation, and a hostile work environment.¹⁴

Where the founders are now

Sara Menker was replaced as CEO in February 2024 and was representing herself in court as of August 2024.¹⁴

Sources

1. BREAKING: Ag insights platform Gro Intelligence is closing down, AgFunderNews, 2024-06-01
2. A Kenyan agri-data startup tipped to underpin global food security shuts down, semafor.com, 2024-06-04
3. Gro Intelligence | Startup Graveyard, startupgraveyard.africa
4. AgTech's $120M Collapse, Failory, Jun 6, 202
5. Dabafinance - Kenyan climate data startup Gro Intelligence shuts down, Dabafinance, Jun 3, 202
6. Gro Intelligence Layoffs | Layoffs.fyi, Layoffs.fyi, 2024-05-31
8. Gro Intelligence Raises $85 million in Series B Funding | TPG, TPG, Jan 11, 20
9. Gro Intelligence Valuation, Funding & Investors | Multiples, multiples.vc, Sep 18, 20
11. Gro Intelligence IPO Timeline and Financing Details - Forge, forgeglobal.com
12. Big Data for Ag Platform Gro Intelligence Raises Series A Round from TPG, Data Collective, AgFunderNews, 2017-10-25
13. Tepley v. Gro Intelligence, Inc. et al, 1:2024cv03075, law.justia.com, Jun 27, 20
14. Now Defunct, Agritech Startup Gro Intelligence Has a Mountain of Court Cases to Climb, Launch Base Africa, 2024-08-22
15. Bielefeldt v. Gro Intelligence, Inc., 1:24-cv-02472 - CourtListener.com, CourtListener, Apr 1, 202

How this case file was put together

Every statement on this page carries a numbered note, and every note points to a court record, a regulatory filing or a named publication in the list of sources. Each statement was checked against the text of the sources it cites before it was published: a figure, a date or a name the cited source does not contain was cut rather than kept. Allegations are shown as allegations, with their status at the time of the source (filed, charged, convicted, pleaded, settled, dismissed or pending). Quoted lessons are the words of the person or publication named with them, copied from the cited source; nothing here is our own opinion of why the company failed.

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