1871 Celebrates 640 Labs Acquisition

The Climate Corporation Acquires 640 Labs, Team to Bolster Industry-Leading Data Science Capabilities

December 08, 2014 03:24 PM Eastern Standard Time

SAN FRANCISCO & CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Climate Corporation announced the acquisition of 640 Labs, an agricultural technology startup based in Chicago. The 640 Labs team will join The Climate Corporation, strengthening the company’s efforts to build the industry’s leading data science platform for farmers.

“We share The Climate Corporation’s vision of providing seamless data solutions for farmers”

“At The Climate Corporation, we strongly believe that leveraging on-farm data can help farmers maximize yields and optimize natural resource use,” said David Friedberg, CEO of The Climate Corporation. “Turning that data into valuable tools for farmers requires a combination of top software engineers, statisticians and specialized disciplines, from agronomists to climatologists. The 640 Labs team brings a combination of engineering and agricultural expertise that will complement and enhance the capabilities of our existing team.”

640 Labs is a startup in downtown Chicago, Illinois, founded by Corbett Kull and Craig Rupp, two highly experienced engineers. The team works to leverage the power of analytics, mobile technologies and cloud computing to help farmers capture and store in-field data.

“We share The Climate Corporation’s vision of providing seamless data solutions for farmers,” said Kull. “We’re very happy to be joining an organization that is leading the development of unique data science solutions for farmers.”

The Climate Corporation will maintain the Chicago office, where the 640 Labs team will remain. “We’re excited to have a new Chicago location and plan to expand our science and engineering organization, aggressively hiring talent in the region,” said Friedberg.

In the coming year, The Climate Corporation expects to announce new products or services to be offered as a result of the 640 Labs acquisition.

The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. For more information about The Climate Corporation’s products and services visit www.climate.com.

About The Climate Corporation

The Climate Corporation, a division of Monsanto Company, aims to help farmers around the world protect and improve their farming operations with uniquely powerful software, hardware and insurance products. The company's proprietary Climate Technology Platform™ combines hyper-local weather monitoring, agronomic modeling, and high-resolution weather simulations to deliver Climate Basic™ and Climate Pro™, mobile SaaS solutions that help farmers improve profitability by making better informed operating and financing decisions. Through its exclusive relationship with OneBeacon the company is also an authorized provider of the U.S. Federal crop insurance program, enabling authorized independent crop insurance agents to provide farmers with the industry's most powerful full-stack risk management solution. The company’s unique technologies help the global $3 trillion agriculture industry to stabilize and improve profits and, ultimately, help feed the world. For more information, please visit http://www.climate.com or follow the company on Twitter @climatecorp. Climate Crop Insurance Agency LLC is an equal opportunity provider. 

640 Labs raises $2.7 million to change agriculture with insane data crunching

posted by Carlin Sack

on 07/07/2014 09:33 am

Agricultural data platform 640 Labs is crunching an incredible amount of numbers on specs including weather, soil type, etc. The company’s cloud-based dashboard platform that collects, stores and analyzes agricultural data can “see things that farmers weren’t able to see before," said Pat Dumstorff, VP of sales and marketing, in March.

Not only do these previously overlooked insights maximize farmers’ profits, but they benefit others who interact with farmers like those in the chemical or crop insurance industries. "Everyone wins with our system," CEO and co-founder Corbett Kull said.

The 640 Labs team itself got a win last week when it closed a $2.65 million seed round. The round will help it leverage the agriculture industry, which makes up about 1 percent of the US’s GDP (that means over $3 billion). The 300 million acres of land in the US produce thousands of dollars in revenue, not to mention thousands of data points via sensors on agricultural equipment.

640 Labs team of engineers utilizes these sensors by unifying the data in the cloud then visualizing and analyzing it in a single dashboard.

"There’s a massive need there that we’re filling in terms of fully utilizing the infrastructure that’s in place,” Corbett said.

The funding will help to beef up 640 Labs’ team and to facilitate tests in Canada and France.

1871 CEO HOWARD TULLMAN TO LEAD DELEGATION OF 1871 BUSINESSES TO WHITE HOUSE

1871 CEO HOWARD TULLMAN TO LEAD DELEGATION OF 1871 BUSINESSES

TO WHITE HOUSE

Five 1871 Businesses to Join National Meeting on Entrepreneurship on Thursday;

Will Meet with Congressman Jared Polis Earlier in the Day

CHICAGO, IL (April 8, 2014) -- Five of 1871’s most successful businesses will join 1871 CEO Howard A. Tullman on Thursday, April 10th to visit the White House as part of a national summit on entrepreneurship. This will mark the first ever formal trip by 1871 members to the White House.

“It is always exciting to be at the White House with the opportunity to help the administration understand the challenges facing technology entrepreneurs in the Midwest,” said Howard A. Tullman, CEO of 1871. “This will be a great event and a wonderful way to showcase five of 1871’s most talented companies on the national stage. And spending time with Jared Polis – probably our “techy-est” representative – will also be a great learning experience for our members. He’s been a good friend for a long time and a powerful supporter of 1871 as well.”

The entrepreneurs and businesses that will visit the White House are:

·       Feyi Olipade, CancerIQ

·       Lotika Pai, Q-It

·       Corbett Kull, 640 Labs

·       Canh Tran, Rippleshot

·       Rajesh Karmani, Zero Percent

“I am thrilled to have this opportunity to visit the White House and talk about the many opportunities facing entrepreneurs here in Chicago and how the government can help us,” said Corbett Kull of 640 Labs. “I expect to see some valuable examples about how things are working for entrepreneurs elsewhere in the country that can be useful as we continue to grow and expand our business. And, I’m sure we can teach them a thing or two about Chicagoness while we’re there.”

Business Forward is organizing the event. The day will start with a roundtable discussion with Congressman Jared Polis, of Colorado. Polis is the founder of bluemountainarts.com and ProFlowers. 1871 CEO Tullman spoke recently in Denver to several hundred entrepreneurs assembled there by the Built in Colorado team, which is an outgrowth of the Chicago-based media and community start-up, Built in Chicago.

In the afternoon, Tullman and the entrepreneurs will proceed to the White House, where they will meet with administration officials as well as officials from other cabinet departments. Past events have included officials from the Department of Commerce as well as the U.S. Small Business Administration. Past participants in the White House briefing have included Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President; Steven VanRoekel, U.S. Chief Information Officer; and Todd Park, U.S. Chief Technology Officer.

What: Roundtable Discussion on Capital Hill followed by White House Business Council briefing

When: Thursday, April 10^th from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Where: Rayburn House Office Building and The White House Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C.

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About 1871

1871 is an entrepreneurial hub for digital startups. Located in the famed Merchandise Mart, the 50,000-square-foot facility provides Chicago startups with programming, access to mentors, educational resources, potential investors and a community of like-minded entrepreneurs that help them on their path to building successful businesses. 1871 is the flagship project of the CEC.