Grain traders have also found matching payments with title transfers difficult. By linking these, blockchain can remove counter-party risk that currently sits with growers – and leads to millions of dollars in losses every harvest. AgriDigital CEO and co-founder Emma Weston said the new funding would help launch the agtech platform in North America and build out a blockchain protocol for the global trade of agri-commodities. A private family investment office also supported the raising but its identity has not been disclosed. AgriDigital is already working with some of the largest players in global agriculture as traditional paper-based processes are digitised, including Rabobank, a leading agricultural bank. Last year, it formed a partnership with CBH Group, the nation's largest grains exporter, to help it prove to buyers the provenance of organic oats. The CBH pilot also involved a digital currency element, with AgriDigital minting an "Agricoin" pegged 1:1 to the Australian dollar. Ms Weston has been pushing the Reserve Bank to introduce a digital version of the Australian dollar, which could serve as the payment token on the platform and close the loop by allowing value to move across the blockchain, rather than having the payment pushed onto traditional bank rails. In its reports last year on how blockchain can lift the productivity of the Australian economy, the CSIRO's Data61 unit said management of supply chains – including trade finance and insurance – was as a "highly promising" use case for the emerging technology. Data61 said blockchain had the potential "not just to integrate information exchange and improve operational efficiencies across a diverse industry, but also to improve supply chain quality, facilitate provenance of branded goods and reduce cost of regulatory approvals."
Australian blockchain start-up AgriDigital has secured a AUD5.5m ($4.3m) investment from Square Peg Capital in series A funding. AgriDigital provides private blockchain technology to simplify agriculture supply chains, and since December 2016 over 1.6 million tonnes of grain have been transacted over the system. The company plans to use the capital to expand its agtech platform into North America.