xFarm acquires Sibium to build agriculture’s global data layer

Italian agtech company xFarm Technologies has acquired Brazil-based Sibium Analytics to expand its agricultural data platform and strengthen its presence in sugarcane, biofuels and supply-chain intelligence. The transaction adds more than 8 million hectares to xFarm’s platform and reinforces its strategy of connecting field data, satellite imagery, traceability and sustainability information through a single system.

According to AgFunderNews, the acquisition is part of xFarm’s broader effort to build what cofounder Matteo Vanotti describes as “the data layer of global agriculture.” The company currently serves more than 600,000 farmers across Europe, Brazil and India, managing data from approximately 24 million hectares of farmland.

Founded by Vanotti and Matteo Cunial, both of whom have backgrounds in farming, xFarm has developed a platform designed to collect and organize data generated throughout agricultural operations. The system combines information from IoT sensors, farm machinery, satellite imagery and direct farmer input.

The company then converts that information into tools such as crop monitoring, yield estimates, irrigation recommendations, pest alerts and compliance tracking. The goal is to move beyond simply identifying what is happening in a field and provide information that can also support supply-chain management, sustainability verification and commercial decisions.

The platform recently added an AI agent that allows farmers to interact with the system using natural language through the app or WhatsApp. Instead of navigating multiple dashboards, users can ask the system questions about their fields and receive direct recommendations.

The acquisition of Sibium strengthens that strategy while giving xFarm greater exposure to Brazil’s sugarcane industry. Sibium works with nine of the country’s largest producers and monitors more than 8 million hectares annually, according to AgFunderNews.

Brazil is a key market for sugarcane and sugarcane ethanol, making the acquisition strategically relevant for xFarm. The company was already active in Brazilian cotton as well as crops such as corn, sugar beet and coffee.

Sibium brings three main products to the group: SIGMA for Crop Monitoring, AMBIUM for ESG Audits and DATA VIEW for analytics. xFarm plans to integrate these capabilities with its existing platform and make them available to clients in Brazil and Europe.

The combination is designed to improve end-to-end traceability, allowing agricultural products to be tracked from planting through harvesting, processing and certification. That information can then be used by buyers, regulators and other organizations seeking to verify the origin and environmental characteristics of agricultural commodities.

The acquisition also opens a significant opportunity in biofuels. Brazil is the world's largest producer of sugarcane ethanol, and the sector is facing growing requirements for documentation and sustainability data.

“If you want to sell biofuel, you need more and more documentation and data,” Vanotti said, according to AgFunderNews. “That is a business that is increasing.”

xFarm plans to take Sibium’s capabilities into other sugarcane-producing markets, including India and Thailand, while also exploring opportunities in other areas of bioenergy. In Europe, the company is monitoring developments in biogas and biomethane as sustainability requirements become more demanding.

The Sibium transaction is xFarm’s second acquisition in Brazil in two years and its sixth acquisition over the past four years. The company expects acquisitions to remain part of its international expansion strategy as it seeks to enter new markets, crops and technology segments.

The logic behind the strategy is based on scale. As xFarm manages more hectares, it gains access to larger volumes of agricultural data that can improve its models and recommendations. The company also aims to use that broader data base to provide food companies and financial institutions with a more complete view of agricultural supply chains.

The addition of BlackRock as an institutional backer of the operation also points to growing interest in agricultural data infrastructure beyond traditional agtech investors, according to AgFunderNews.

For xFarm, the acquisition represents more than an expansion into another crop or market. By combining field-level information with satellite data, supply-chain tracking, sustainability reporting and AI-powered analysis, the company is positioning its platform as an infrastructure layer for increasingly data-driven agriculture.