Emergent Connext recently announced the successful closure of its $5 million seed funding round. The seed round attracted a strong group of investors who share Emergent’s vision to digitally connect the underserved industries of rural America – unlocking new opportunities in profitability, sustainability, and operational efficiency across agriculture, climate and energy, utilities and municipalities, and the broader rural economy.
This injection of capital will scale Emergent’s national network deployment, expand commercial operations, and accelerate sensor integration across agriculture and adjacent rural industries.
“Emergent was built to solve a massive connectivity challenge that has long held back rural innovation,” said Mike Roudi, CEO of Emergent. “Whether you’re a farmer, rancher, utility manager, or rural co-op operator, you need real-time data to make informed decisions.
“That starts with affordable, scalable connectivity—and the ability to integrate devices and data across complex, disparate platforms. This can lead to immediate ROI for users. For instance, a trial use of Emergent’s precision irrigation solution in collaboration with Cal.net at Terranova Ranch in California yielded water savings of 34%.”
The seed found was funded equally between agriculture and telecom investors, including Bob Trogele, a global agriculture executive and ag-tech investors who is also CEO of Verdelis Investments and ProAgInvest, and Jim Timmer, a seasoned telecom and digital infrastructure executive with expertise in large-scale infrastructure deployments.
The seed round attracted a total of more than 20 investors.
“Emergent is tackling the most fundamental obstacle to rural innovation: the lack of connectivity and digital integration,” said Trogele. “For years, agriculture has been promised digital transformation—but without a reliable data backbone, the tools can’t function at scale. Emergent is delivering the infrastructure we’ve been waiting for. It will fundamentally reshape how we farm, manage rural assets, and build resilience across the entire value chain.”
“Rural industries can’t digitise without a network operator that understands their unique challenges,” added Timmer. “Emergent has engineered a purpose-built solution for rural America. It’s rugged, scalable, and economically viable.”
Emergent has achieved several major milestones:
- Network deployment: built and activated Emergent’s IoT network in California, Ohio, Arkansas, Indiana, Missouri, and Kentucky
- Product development: built a suite of solutions to support smart farming and rural communities that bundles world-class devices, persistent connectivity, and real-time interactive platforms
- Strategic partnerships: Microsoft Airband, Tektelic Communications, multiple rural Internet Service Providers, and IoT solution providers
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