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Joe Pianelli Headshot

Joe Pianelli

Board Observer

Joe Pianelli has over 30 years of experience in finance, corporate development, business formation, as well as senior level operating roles in the following sectors: wireless, digital media, Internet and consumer retail. He has worked on a global basis with C-level executives of large and small enterprises developing strategic growth plans and launching new business ventures. Core competencies include commercialization of new technologies, revenue generating partnerships and capital funding strategies. He has been investing in emerging technologies for over 25 years. Joe has worked with family offices focused on disruptive technologies investing across all parts of the value chain. Stage 1 Ventures recruited Joe to be an Operating Partner in 2015 leveraging his experience in scaling global businesses and working with institutional investors. Joe currently is a board observer for Invaio Ag Sciences, Trace Genomics and Freight Farms.

Joe started investing in agriculture in 2012 when he incubated VoloAgri, a vegetable seed technology and breeding company that went on to raise $140 million in capital funding. The current focus is on the digital transformation that is occurring in agriculture and the development of data driven agronomy. The digitization of farming will enable the capture of broad data sets including farm management practices, seed, inputs and weather. The application of machine learning and AI on plants and soil will enable new discoveries on how plants interact with the micro-biome and create new data driven agronomic decisions that will define the future of agriculture.