SVG Ventures | THRIVE Invests in Cellar Insights to Scale AI-Powered Potato Storage Monitoring
23 January 2026, Calgary: SVG Ventures | THRIVE; a global leader in agri-food innovation and investment, has announced a $500,000 investment in Calgary-based Cellar Insights through the SVG Ventures Pioneer Fund. The funding will support the company’s continued growth and commercialization of smart, remote potato storage monitoring technology designed to help growers, processors, and storage operators reduce post-harvest loss and protect crop value.
Cellar Insights’ scaleup journey was significantly accelerated through SVG Ventures’ accelerator in Alberta, delivered in partnership with Alberta Innovates’ Scaleup Gap Program. SVG Ventures first engaged with Cellar Insights through this program and continued to follow the company closely as it validated its technology, expanded deployments, and built commercial momentum.
“We first met the Cellar Insights team through our accelerator in Alberta, delivered in partnership with Alberta Innovates’ Scaleup Gap Program, and that engagement gave us an early window into both the problem they were solving and how the company was executing,” said John Cassidy, Managing Director Canada, SVG Ventures | THRIVE. “We stayed closely connected as they validated the technology, expanded deployments, and built momentum beyond Alberta. That continued progress is what ultimately led us to invest through the Pioneer Fund.”
Cellar Insights provides a Smart Storage Monitoring System that delivers alerts, trending insights, and actionable decision support to detect early signs of spoilage risk – including rot, excess shrink, and poor fry colour – before issues cascade across an entire storage pile. The system detects rot-risk signals (including rot gas) and tracks key storage conditions such as temperature, humidity, and CO₂, enabling earlier intervention and improved storage outcomes.
A key milestone in the company’s growth has been deployment within Farm Credit Canada’s (FCC) Innovation Farm Network at the EMILI Innovation farms potato site in MacGregor, Manitoba. Operated by J.P. Wiebe Ltd., the commercial-scale site represents the first potato operation included in the national network and provides real-world validation of Cellar Insights’ technology under diverse regional storage conditions.
Cellar Insights was co-founded by Ross Culberson, a sixth-generation potato grower, translating on-farm challenges into a technology platform built for real operational decision-making. Storage represents a major value-at-risk window for the potato sector, with losses commonly estimated at ~5% or more, where manual monitoring is difficult to sustain across long storage seasons.
“Storage is where crop value is protected or lost,” said Terry Sydoryk, CEO, Cellar Insights. “Our system delivers early warnings and clear insights so operators can act sooner to reduce shrink and spoilage risk. Validation in New Brunswick and Alberta, and now Manitoba helped prove the model, and we’re expanding our reach with active deployments in Prince Edward Island, alongside early relationship development in Idaho and Washington. This investment enables us to scale that impact across North America.”
“Our mandate at Alberta Innovates is to help Alberta companies overcome the most challenging part of the innovation journey – the commercialization gap and the transition to scale,” said Dr. Mike Mahon, President and CEO of Alberta Innovates. “Cellar Insights is a textbook example of how grower‑driven innovation, when paired with the right commercialization supports and global partners like SVG Ventures, can move from pilot to investment and market traction. Seeing this company attract follow‑on capital and deploy in places like Manitoba demonstrates the impact of a clear pathway from innovation to adoption.”
Beyond domestic validation, Cellar Insights has also leveraged SVG Ventures’ global ecosystem – including participation in the Canada–Ireland Bridge delegation — to deepen partnerships and explore international market opportunities, further strengthening its path to global adoption.
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