(December 12, 2022) - GDM, a leading plant genetic company, has acquired Dymaxion Labs, one of the most promising startups in the Argentine market, specializing in monitoring the drivers of global economic development using geospatial data and Artificial Intelligence.
It is a significant move to mark the beginning of GDM's presence in digital-based businesses.
"Our objective in acquiring Dymaxion Labs, in addition to expanding our capacity for massive geospatial analysis, was to reinforce a belief that is fundamental to us: that side businesses need to breathe independent air. We have repeatedly seen technology spin-offs being swallowed up by the day-to-day activities of large corporations. We already had this mentality with the business generated within the company itself, and now with Dymaxion, we take another step towards this path," states Leonardo Boz, Global Manager of Digital Business at GDM, now responsible for Dymaxion Labs.
Dymaxion Labs founders Federico Bayle and Damian Silvani remain in business as COO and CTO, respectively.
"We will expand the use of geospatial monitoring technology and put more strength in the development of digital products that were already being developed internally by GDM. There is a lot of opportunity to apply artificial intelligence in agriculture, from relatively simple problems such as classification of crops, to more complex ones such as early identification of pests or even geomarketing analysis by crossing images with open information sources. The sky is the limit," explains Bayle.
For Boz, there is much asymmetry in adopting technology in agribusiness.
"While producers are flooded with the offer of technological solutions of all kinds, the entire chain behind them is still very lacking in this regard. In addition, the application of artificial intelligence on images, which is Dymaxion's specialty, can generate - alone or combined with other technologies - many gains for the agro", he emphasizes.
Next steps
The "new" Dymaxion Labs was born much more robust than the company that was acquired. In addition to inheriting a portfolio of digital products, such as GoodSeed (a data capture and product testing management tool) and Optimus (a set of solutions in precision agriculture and variety positioning), as well as a dedicated team of GDM developers.
"Today, in addition to having a great challenge of product-marketfit - to tropicalize solutions that we already sell in the United States, and take there what we already sell to customers here in Latin America - we have a human challenge, of bringing together people from two companies with different cultures, take what's good in each one and do something new, unprecedented," evaluates Tobias Ruiz, formerly responsible for the Optimus project, now head of the product area at Dymaxion Labs.
Regarding the focus of action, Boz guarantees that the Brazilian market should dominate the new company's attention in the short and medium term.
"If we combine the market access that we can have through GDM with the human and technological potential of this new structure, we have much to do here."
Research Excellence
GDM is a global leader in plant genetics. Responsible for the genetics of 40% of the world's soybean production, it invests heavily in research and development and commercialization of varieties. Brazil alone spent approximately $400 million on research in the last year. Of the company's more than 1,300 employees worldwide, more than 500 are dedicated exclusively to Research and Development programs.
GDM is a global wide-ranging plant genetics group that researches, develops, and markets intellectual property products. The company seeks to be at the forefront of the market, aggregating technologies and talents, promoting innovation, associativity, and the development of new businesses that impact the entire value chain, sustainably contributing to productivity. The company operates in more than 15 countries, such as Brazil, Argentina, and the United States, contributing to the continuous improvement of world agricultural productivity. The group invests a large number of human and economic resources in developing research and testing programs that result in varieties adapted to different environmental conditions, providing producers with the best solutions for their crops.