Telesense

What Telesense does

TeleSense is an agricultural technology company that provides IoT-based environmental monitoring and control solutions for the post-harvest grain supply chain. Founded in 2014 by Naeem Zafar and headquartered in Yakima, Washington, the company develops wireless battery-powered sensor hardware, including the BinShield grain bin monitor, multi-sensor spears for piles and bunkers, fan sensors, and standalone units for in-transit monitoring of barges, railcars, and trucks. Sensors continuously measure temperature, relative humidity, and carbon dioxide, transmitting data to the cloud-based TeleSense App via cellular or gateway connectivity. The platform applies data science and predictive analytics to detect spoilage earlier than legacy temperature-cable systems, identify hot spots and risk zones, optimize fan operation timing, and recommend when to sell grain for maximum profitability.

The company sells to large commercial grain businesses, cooperatives, and storage operators in the United States and across 13 European countries. Named customers include ADM, DSV, DLF, Kokomo Grain (55 million bushels across eight Indiana locations), and Gavin Owens (a Guinness brewery supplier managing 100+ million pounds of grain). TeleSense operates on a hybrid revenue model combining hardware sales of sensors and gateways with recurring SaaS subscriptions for the TeleSense App. Distribution is direct in North America via enterprise field sales and, in Europe, through TeleSense Europe ApS (established following the April 2019 acquisition of Danish IoT firm Webstech). TeleSense has been a subsidiary of DECCO Post-Harvest, the post-harvest solutions division of global agribusiness UPL, since 2019, with access to UPL's global agricultural input distribution network through the OpenAg platform.

TeleSense's product portfolio extends beyond grain bins into ground pile and bunker monitoring, grain transportation monitoring with geolocation, potato storage monitoring, and other storage types (flat storage, grain bags, warehouses, crates). The company has raised approximately $16.7 million in venture funding, including a $10.2 million Series B in October 2020 led by Finistere Ventures with participation from Rabobank Food & Agri Innovation Fund, Congruent Ventures, Fulcrum Global Capital, and others. Headcount is in the 11-50 employee range.

Name

Telesense

Legal name

TeleSense

Website

https://telesense.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

TeleSense is an AgTech company that provides IoT-based environmental monitoring (temperature, humidity, CO2) and predictive analytics for post-harvest grain storage and transportation, serving large commercial grain businesses, cooperatives, and storage operators in North America and Europe as a subsidiary of UPL's DECCO Post-Harvest division.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural IoT / Postharvest Grain Monitoring

NAICS

Automatic Environmental Control Manufacturing for Residential, Commercial, and Appliance Use (334512)

SIC

Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, And Control (3823)

akta.pro primary industry

Remote Sensing, Alerts & Predictive Analytics for Spoilage/Hotspot Detection (AFAOALAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Transport-Integrated Temperature Monitoring (In-Storage to Outbound Loads) (AFAOALAG)

Keywords

• Grain storage monitoring
• IoT agriculture sensors
• Postharvest commodity monitoring
• Wireless grain bin monitoring
• Agricultural data analytics

Headquarters

HQ city

Yakima

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Hardware Sales (Sensors and Devices): Sale of wireless battery-powered sensor spears, gateways, and fan monitoring devices. Hardware is installed at customer sites for continuous monitoring.
2. Software as a Service (TeleSense App): Cloud-based software platform for data visualization, alerts, and analytics. Accessed via smartphone, computer, or tablet with internet connection. Subscription-based recurring revenue.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

TeleSense sells IoT-based environmental monitoring solutions for stored agricultural commodities. Its product portfolio combines wireless hardware sensors (spears, gateways, fan sensors) with the cloud-based TeleSense App to continuously track temperature, relative humidity, and carbon dioxide in grain bins, ground piles, bunkers, during transport, and in potato storage. The system delivers CO2-based spoilage detection, 3D risk zone visualization, custom alerts, and data-driven recommendations for grain conditioning, fan operation, and selling decisions.

Product overview

TeleSense offers an IoT and data science platform for agricultural commodity monitoring. The company combines wireless hardware sensors (TeleSense Spears, Fan Sensors) with their TeleSense App software platform to continuously monitor temperature, relative humidity (RH), and carbon dioxide levels in grain storage and transportation. The product portfolio includes BinShield for grain bin monitoring, Ground Pile/Bunker Monitoring, Grain Transportation Monitoring, Potato Storage Monitoring, and Other Storage Units Monitoring. The system provides CO₂-based spoilage detection, risk zone identification, custom alerts, and recommendations for grain quality management.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• BinShield: Wireless grain bin monitoring solution using CO2 monitoring for early spoilage detection without temperature cables
• Webstech

Products and services

• BinShield Grain Bin Monitoring Wireless grain bin monitoring solution using two wireless sensors placed in the headspace and plenum to track temperature, relative humidity, and carbon dioxide. Provides CO2-based spoilage detection that warns earlier than temperature-only systems and removes the need for temperature cables or climbing bins.
• TeleSense App Cloud-based software platform that aggregates data from wireless sensors and provides continuous monitoring, custom alerts, temperature and moisture charts, 3D visualization of storage units, and comparisons across multiple locations. Accessible via web browser, smartphone, and tablet.
• TeleSense Spears Battery-powered multi-sensor wireless spears that monitor temperature, relative humidity, and CO2 levels in grain storage units, transportation vehicles, and potato storage. Available with cellular or WiFi data connectivity.
• Ground Pile and Bunker Monitoring Wireless monitoring solution for ground piles and bunkers with aeration. Battery-powered multi-sensor spears are laid in a grid pattern to compare temperature and moisture values from different parts of the pile, enabling holistic spoilage assessment.
• Grain Transportation Monitoring Standalone battery-powered spears that monitor temperature, relative humidity, and geolocation data during commodity transit in barges, railcars, and trucks. Sends alerts when temperature or RH levels exceed pre-set ranges.
• Potato Storage Monitoring Wireless spear monitoring solution for potato storage that tracks temperature, humidity, and CO2 levels as air moves through the potato pile, providing a complete view of the storage environment and enabling pinpoint problem identification.
• Other Storage Units Monitoring Monitoring solution for flat storages, grain bags, warehouses, crates, and other storage unit types. Uses battery-powered spears with multiple temperature and moisture sensors and 3D sensor layout visualization for comprehensive coverage.
• Fan Sensors Devices that measure the temperature and moisture of air that blows out of a grain pile. Used in combination with spears to understand conditions inside the entire grain mass by comparing airflow readings across multiple fans.

Quantifiable outcome

• Earlier spoilage detection through CO2 monitoring vs. temperature-only systems
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• DECCO Post-HarvestcoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing Partner · 16 April 2019DECCO Post-Harvest, UPL's post-harvest solutions subsidiary, acquired TeleSense in 2019 to strengthen its offering to combat food waste. The acquisition provides TeleSense with access to UPL's global agricultural network and distribution capabilities.
• WebstechcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 April 2019TeleSense acquired Danish IoT company Webstech in April 2019 to expand its market footprint into European markets and strengthen its IoT sensor capabilities for grain monitoring.
• UPL Open AgcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUPL Open Ag is the parent company network under which DECCO operates. The OpenAg network provides sustainable agricultural growth across the globe with no limits or borders, reaching 8 billion people.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• DTN: DTN provides agricultural weather, market data, and operational analytics to grain buyers, elevators, and commercial growers. Its installed base among commercial grain businesses makes it a credible channel or competitor for storage-condition analytics and decision-support tools.
• John Deere (Deere & Company): Deere's Operations Center and See & Spray platforms increasingly extend into post-harvest and in-bin sensing through partnerships and acquisitions (e.g., Blue River, Light). As Deere pushes data-driven agronomy across the full crop cycle, it is a strategic incumbent that could bundle grain monitoring into its existing precision-ag stack.
• Climate FieldView (Bayer): Bayer's Climate FieldView platform is the largest digital agronomy SaaS in row crops, aggregating sensor, satellite, and equipment data for growers. While currently focused on in-field decisions, its data infrastructure and grower relationships make it a likely platform-level competitor or partner for post-harvest storage monitoring.
• AGCO Corporation (GSI Grain Systems): AGCO's GSI division is one of the largest global manufacturers of grain bins, dryers, and conditioning equipment. GSI has introduced its own bin-monitoring sensors (e.g., GSI Connect), making AGCO a direct competitor on the grain-storage telemetry side while also being a potential OEM channel for TeleSense-style technology.

Direct peers

• Semios: Semios provides IoT sensors and predictive analytics for specialty crops (orchards, vineyards, almonds), with a similar hardware-plus-AI subscription offering to large agricultural operators. While focused on specialty crops, its platform architecture and go-to-market motion for enterprise growers closely mirror TeleSense's model.
• CropX: CropX sells IoT soil and irrigation sensors with a cloud analytics platform, targeting similar agricultural customers with a comparable hardware-plus-SaaS subscription model. The overlap is strongest on data science for on-farm storage and environmental conditions, though CropX focuses primarily on in-field soil rather than grain storage.
• Tule Technologies: Tule builds field-deployed sensors (e.g., canopy temperature, ET) combined with agronomic analytics for irrigation and crop stress decision support. It is comparable to TeleSense as a venture-backed ag-IoT sensor+analytics company selling actionable insights to commercial growers.
• Arable Labs: Arable produces a multi-sensor weather/crop station with analytics for irrigation, spraying, and harvest timing. Its device-plus-cloud subscription model for agricultural operators closely parallels TeleSense's approach of bundling hardware sensing with cloud-based decision-support software.

Regional players

• Bühler Group: Bühler is a Swiss-based global leader in grain processing, handling, and storage equipment. It supplies turnkey grain facilities and increasingly embeds digital monitoring into its installations, making it both a channel for grain-storage sensors and a competitor in connected-storage analytics across EMEA.

Others

• Iteris (agriculture segment): Iteris provides weather, soil, and crop analytics for agribusinesses and offers ClearAg decision-support tools. While its sensor footprint is lighter than TeleSense's, its analytics layer and enterprise ag-customer base make it an adjacent competitor for storage-condition decision support.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/mytelesense
• Facebookfacebook.com/mytelesense
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/telesense

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors14 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Telesense