#StartupsEverywhere: Jessi Korinek, Co-Founder, Nave Analytics
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
Irrigation analytics free of on-site hardware
Timing the sowing and watering of crops is as important as ever in agriculture. Jessi Korinek and her co-founders at Nave Analytics are developing a software that uses satellite data to help farmers cut down on water costs for irrigation. We sat down with Jessi to discuss her product, the impact of tariffs on the agricultural industry, and the challenges she faced in receiving federal research and development (R&D) grants.
Tell us about your background. What led you to Nave Analytics?
Nave Analytics is the grandchild of a previous startup that I had worked on. I was an early employee there; it was ahead of its time, both in technology and customer adoption. It went through a successful acquisition, and I went into corporate life for a while.
A couple of years down the road, two of my co-workers and I saw the opportunity to break out and do this on our own. We felt like the technology and the customer were both ready, which gave us the encouragement to leave our comfy corporate jobs and go back to startup life. We've been building for almost four years now and began commercialization in May 2024.
What is the work you all are doing at Nave Analytics?
We provide planting and irrigation decision support tools. Our product uses satellite data, localized weather information, soil information, and applied irrigation information to give users the best windows to plant and an understanding of field conditions throughout the growing season. We incorporate crop modeling to analyze above-ground processes alongside hydrology modeling to track water movement through the soil profile. With all of this data, we're able to generate the water balance on an individual field. We give farmers and agronomists better information about how much water is available in the soil and how much the plant needs so that they can apply water more efficiently. Our product doesn’t require sensors in the field, so we’re able to deliver this intelligence at a fraction of the cost.
Have you applied for federal grant programs? What has been your experience?
We’ve applied for numerous federal grants, including USDA-SBIR, NSF-SBIR, NASA-SBIR and NRCS-CIG but haven’t received any. We understand these grants are extremely competitive with far more applications than can be funded but the feedback we’ve received has been vague and unhelpful—despite our applications aligning exactly with the project criteria outlined in the grant descriptions.
It’s so confusing, the feedback is not actionable. We’ve deduced that our grant proposals are too scientific and technical, and we need to get better at storytelling in our applications–which seems counterintuitive to be applying for high-tech R&D grants.
Some of the feedback I’ve received has included lines like: “We feel like the team doesn't have the technical expertise.” We have a geospatial scientist, we have university professors, we have experts in our field, I don’t get how they say we don't have the right technical expertise.
I’ve also received rejection feedback from an R&D grant saying that the reviewers didn’t see the business potential of our product. Commercialization comes after R&D for a reason, the two are kept separate for a reason. I shouldn’t have to fully submit my business plan and protections for an R&D grant.
Are you concerned about how tariffs will affect your industry?
The tariffs are going to affect agriculture and may impact us by extension. I think that we will weather the storm better than some other companies because we are already designed to be the cost-effective solution for water management. The flip side of that is maybe we aren't as necessary as other agricultural equipment because we're a very specific tool. If the worst happens and everyone is just trying to get by, precision water tools might be lower on the list of priorities for farmers to keep.
Are there any local, state, or federal startup issues that you think should receive more attention from policymakers?
Water use policies require farmers to report certain statistics to prove their water use. The way that a lot of policy is currently written requires a sensor in the field, which prevents lower cost, just as effective technologies like ours from being deployed for the same purpose. Right now, technology like ours is outpacing the way policy is written.
We see this as an ongoing problem for us, as we have more and more customers asking to use our service for this kind of reporting. Policymakers should adopt legislation that allows innovative technologies to continue to solve new problems as they arise.
What are your goals for Nave Analytics moving forward?
We want to conduct more R&D to make our solution more complete and comprehensive. The accessibility of our product allows us to have customers around the world. We have a large set of users in the U.S., as well as Canada, Brazil, and Australia. We're in conversations to bring Nave Analytics to more regions including Mexico, Argentina, Europe and Central Asia. In the future, we would like to be able to have significant market shares in our primary markets which include the U.S., Brazil, and Australia. We want to make gains in commercialization and R&D while also having our product be the best on the market.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
Engine works to ensure that policymakers look for insight from the startup ecosystem when they are considering programs and legislation that affect entrepreneurs. Together, our voice is louder and more effective. Many of our lawmakers do not have first-hand experience with the country's thriving startup ecosystem, so it’s our job to amplify that perspective. To nominate a person, company, or organization to be featured in our #StartupsEverywhere series, email advocacy@engine.is.
