Drone technology plants seeds of interest

Enterprises which seek crowdfunding are typically start-ups with little track record, so they are inherently high risk. The big disadvantage is that their shares are not listed on any stock exchange so it is difficult, or even impossible, to find someone else to buy your shares if you want to cash them in. Mainly for this reason, the Punter has shunned such offerings in the past.

This week, he is making an exception and putting $1000 into AirSeed Technologies, a company with offices in Sydney and South Africa, aiming to use drones to plant 100 million trees a year by 2023.

The company wants between $300,000 and $1 million, offering shares at $1 each. The minimum investment is only $500. The offer closes on March 5. At the time of writing it had already raised more than $250,000.

AirSeed says its drones can plant trees 95 per cent faster and at 20-25pc of the cost of manual planting. It claims a germination rate of up to up to 80pc, using its patent-pending Carbon Seed Pod manufacturing process.

They analyse soil samples from the site and make a soil specific probiotic nutrient pack that is inoculated into the seed pods. Their drones then plant two seeds a second, logging the GPS location of every seed. Three to six months later they re-fly the area to assess the results.

AirSeed has a trial underway, planting more than 500,000 trees. If successful, it may win a contract to plant 200 million trees throughout Africa over the next five years. With AirSeed charging 50c a tree, that could generate revenue of $100m.

The Punter will put AirSeeds in his bottom drawer and hope they germinate. If they don't, he can console himself knowing he tried to do the right thing. Even before the bushfires, the world was perilously short of trees.