Israel-based Taranis, a precision scouting and agricultural intelligence company, announced plans to locate its global headquarters in Westfield, creating up to 60 new, high-wage jobs by the end of 2023. The new headquarters will help grow Taranis’ presence in the Midwest and enhance customers' accessibility to the company's state-of-the-art agriculture technology solutions.
“Taranis’ new headquarters is a welcome addition to the Hoosier state as we continue to grow our thriving tech presence," said Governor Eric J. Holcomb. "This investment will further strengthen our position as a top agricultural producing state and help attract a large, diverse talent pool for the future. I couldn't be more grateful Taranis has chosen Indiana to call home.”
Taranis, which empowers growers to make informed and timely replant, crop nutrition and protection decisions that optimize yields through precision scouting, is investing nearly $10.5 million to lease and equip its new 6,000-square-foot facility at 725 E. Main St. in Westfield. The facility will allow the company to significantly expand its team of agronomists and associates while increasing its total acreage serviced. The company’s location in Tel-Aviv, Israel, will continue to operate as its Innovation Center.
By utilizing drone fleets capable of capturing high-resolution imagery, Taranis’ proprietary software platform analyzes images and aggregates data to deliver real-time insights during each growth stage at a leaf-level resolution 20 times faster than the manual alternative. The images are tagged and evaluated by Taranis' artificial intelligence platform, which delivers the insights to users through the company's comprehensive CONNECT mobile platform. With Taranis' agronomic solutions, growers and their advisors can detect early symptoms of uneven emergence, nutrient deficiencies, weeds, crop diseases, insects or water stress almost immediately.
“Locating our global headquarters in the heart of the America’s largest commodity crop production region enables us to interact more directly with our customers to better address the agronomic challenges of their growers,” said Mike DiPaola, general manager of North America and vice president of global sales at Taranis. “This exciting chapter for Taranis positions us well for growing our customer base and recruiting employee talent, while also allowing us to entrench ourselves in the area as the undisputed leader in precision scouting.”
Taranis, which currently employs more than 80 people across the U.S., Latin America, Eastern Europe, Australia and the Middle East, plans to consolidate its sales, marketing and administrative functions at the new Westfield facility and continue to significantly expand its workforce during the first year of operation. The company is hiring for positions in drone and aviation operations, customer success, marketing and sales and has already hired seven toward its goal. Interested applicants may apply online.
“The addition of Taranis to our community further enhances our influence in the region as an attractive location for businesses and job seekers,” said Westfield Mayor Andy Cook. “Its emergence as a leader in precision scouting coupled with our commitment to advancing agricultural innovation in our region makes this ideal and exciting partnership.”
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) partners with industry organizations like AgriNovus Indiana, the state’s initiative dedicated to promoting and accelerating the growth of the agbiosciences community, in order to target business recruitment in high-skilled, high-growth sectors. AgriNovus works to cultivate business development needs within the agriculture sectors, helping recruit organizations like Taranis to expand or locate in Indiana.
“We met Taranis on Governor Holcomb’s 2018 economic development trip to Israel and quickly identified Indiana as the ideal place for the company to grow in North America,” said Mitch Frazier, president and chief executive officer of AgriNovus. “Taranis’ investment is the latest validation of Indiana’s ability to compete and win in the global agbioscience economy for high-tech, high-growth companies that will shape the future of food and agriculture.”
The IEDC offered Taranis Inc. up to $1.25 million in conditional tax credits based on the company’s high-wage job creation plans. These tax credits are performance-based, meaning the company is eligible to claim incentives once Hoosiers are hired. The city of Westfield supports the project.