Valeria has completed her BSc and MSc in applied maths and PhD in bioinformatics. She started her career as a researcher in the lab and gained management experience leading AI teams in biotech start-ups in Europe and the US. This path eventually led to co-founding Smartomica, a company focused on developing an AI-based platform which assists oncologists in diagnosis of severe cancer patients. The concept for Fermata came from the understanding that plant health is also very important for each one of us, and for the planet. 30% of crops are lost globally due to late detection of plant diseases — a huge source of food waste. Further, the current approach to overcome this challenge is intensive use of various chemicals. Drawing upon Valeria's experience and knowledge from the biotech industry, Fermata has built a sustainable AI-based solution for automatic monitoring of plant health in greenhouses and on the fields. The system notifies the grower in case of disease, and allows them to prevent harvest losses by up to 30% and apply less chemicals in the course of food production. Fermata has raised 4M euro and is operating in Israel, Europe, US and Canada. They have been listed multiple times as one of the leading start-ups in AgTech and AI, both in Israel and globally. Valeria was listed as Forbers 30 under 30 in Europe.