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October 29, 2015/ by Dave Burwell
The October edition of The Financial Passage Maker featured a brief overview of Clean Seed and the author’s perspective of the company as an investment. Below is the overview in its entirety.
My investment in this company has quadrupled since my initial purchase. CSX has made steady progress and, unlike many nascent enterprises, its burn rate is sustainable. Financing has not been an issue even in today’s climate of caution on the part of lenders. In fact, the agricultural community has invested heavily, a vote of confidence by people in the market for this equipment. Readers may be interested in the following report. In my opinion, some of the conclusions are not unreasonable even if the piece is a bit boosterish.
https://www.agletter.com/clean-seed-capital-the-iphone-of-agriculture/
l like the “chemistry” of this enterprise. It is still directed by people with “muddy boots” – individuals who have a long-standing connection with the technology and the experience of the farm field. I also have the sense that the company has a participatory culture – that it is able to harness the expertise of people from different backgrounds in a productive way. There is a tendency for many start-up companies to become captivated by the technological brilliance of their products/services and not to pay sufficient attention to bringing them to the marketplace. In my view, CSX has done well to advance the marketing, financing and technological aspects of its business. For those with an interest in following up on this comment, I would suggest that they check regional newspapers and trade publications – often a useful way to “take the pulse” of business enterprises.
I was impressed by the technological superiority of the CX SMART Seeder, Clean Seed’s flagship product:
• tailored to meet evolving agricultural techniques,
• superior performance over competing seeders as measured in field tests,
• measurable cost savings for farmers ,
• possible reduction in operating downtime due to a modular system in which non-functioning parts can be replaced quickly in the field – this is especially important for farmers during time critical periods such as seeding.
I contacted the company for more details on the performance of the SMART seeder and the CEO quickly provided me with additional documentation. It presents a compelling case for the technology.
As it is a small enterprise, I expect that CSX will experience more volatility in its share price than larger, more stable companies.
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