prateeksanLast edited October 2026

Prateek Srivastava

Builder

Prateek Srivastava is an entrepreneur who has been building since Windows 3.11, from screensavers sold on floppy disks to AI products for global companies. He founded Basil Advisors, acquired by Blume Ventures in 2019, and co-founded Terraview, a machine learning platform for vineyards that merged with Gamaya in 2024.[3]Gamaya and Terraview, AgNavigator, 7 August 2024.Go to reference Since 2023 he has been building the business at Cropin, the agricultural intelligence platform. Born in Rajasthan, based in Arnhem, the Netherlands, self-taught since 17.

'01'03 cold start'13 Basil'19 Terraview'23 Cropin
Proto2001 to 2003
Cold start2003 to 2013
Basil Advisors2013 to 2020
Terraview2019 to 2024
Cropin2023 to now

1 Proto (2001 to 2003)

Wrote screensavers in C and C++ for Windows and sold them on floppy disks and CDs to PC enthusiasts and magazines: PC Magazine, PC World and PC Quest. Every early Windows machine looked the same; the screensaver was the one place to be different. Lesson: "Motivation is the actual product."

2 Cold start (2003 to 2013)

Door-to-door sales, then PC sales, enterprise software, recruiting and executive search, at IBM, Adecco, Quess and Gi Group among others. Lesson: "The room gives a fair shot if you outwork it."

3 Basil Advisors (2013 to 2020)

Founded an executive search firm for venture-backed tech in India: a $3M business grown from 1 to 80 people, with people with disabilities making up 10% of the team. Built early teams for Flipkart, Myntra, BigBasket, Delhivery, Udaan and 50+ startups backed by Sequoia, Matrix, Nexus, Tiger and Lightspeed. Acquired by Blume Ventures in 2019. Lesson: "Timing is a multiplier."

4 Terraview (2019 to 2024)

Co-founded in Barcelona, with operations in Spain, Switzerland, the United States and Australia: machine learning on satellite, weather and vineyard data for yield forecasting and crop risk in wine grapes, one of the most climate-sensitive crops. 200+ wine producers served across 25,000+ hectares, including Constellation Brands, E&J Gallo and Pernod Ricard. Over $5M raised across rounds, with the seed led by Binny Bansal.[4]Terraview funding, Inc42.Go to reference Recognised in Fast Company's World Changing Ideas Awards 2022.[5]Fast Company, World Changing Ideas Awards, 2022 (Terraview).Go to reference Profiled by Fortune.[1]Terraview is agtech for winemaking, Fortune, 5 January 2022.Go to reference[2]California winemakers are using A.I., Fortune, 23 August 2022.Go to reference Merged with Gamaya in 2024. Lesson: "In legacy categories, trust comes before innovation."

See also: Cropin, where the agtech lessons were put to work · Basil Advisors

5 Cropin (2023 to now)

Joined when "agritech can't scale" was the consensus. Thesis: enterprise-first, pure software, horizontal, anchored in distribution that repeats. Helped build the go-to-market with the team across global agribusinesses, food and consumer brands, and development agencies. The business grew 4x in 36 months, with the largest multi-year deal in the company's history. The platform covers 400M hectares across 104 countries and 100+ enterprise customers. Lesson: "Categories that 'can't scale' are stories, not laws."

See also: Terraview · Weekend musings

6 Weekend musings

Building now: Spock, in stealth. A model that removes the noise between data and information, for humans, agents and machines. For teams drowning in documents they can't search.

Notes from the workbench: ideas tinkered with to understand where AI is taking how things move, get sold and get trusted. The thinking is the point.

  • Returns, reimagined for Europe. In Europe's cities, returning a parcel still means a trip to a drop point. What if the courier already on your street took it back?
    ▸ more

    Even in Amsterdam and Berlin, one return can mean a 20 to 30 minute round trip. I talked to shoppers in the Netherlands and Spain, mapped the European carriers (PostNL, DHL, DPD, GLS), and sketched the economics of doorstep returns.

  • The ticket is the failure. Most customer problems in the physical world never become a ticket.
    ▸ more

    I sketched a small wearable for frontline staff that catches problems as they happen. Parked.

  • Gulp 1.0 and 2.0. From the home fridge to a shelf that sees.
    ▸ more

    1.0: a camera over the household fridge, run in my home and a few neighbours' in Arnhem; shelved, nobody clearly pay. 2.0, a thesis: a shelf that sees. Coolers and shelves that know what sells, and AI that listens to shoppers. We did some early runs; the data looks worth more than the device.

7 Foundations

Left high school at 17 to care for his mother after her stroke, and took a diploma in stroke patient care to do it right. Everything since has been self-taught. His great-grandfather, grandfather and grandmother all took part in the Quit India Movement of 1942; his grandfather was arrested for it.

8 Talks

  • World AI Summit, Amsterdam, 2025. Panel: Developing AI without borders.
  • F&A Next, Wageningen, Netherlands, 2024. Panel: The evolving landscape of precision agriculture.
  • Food Tech Congress, Warsaw, 2024. Panel: Informed decision-making in the food supply chain.
  • IFC Agribusiness Conference, Dublin, 2024. Speaker at the second edition.

9 Writing and music

Away from work, he writes and records.

10 References

  1. Terraview is agtech for winemaking, Fortune, 5 January 2022. fortune.com
  2. California winemakers are using A.I., Fortune, 23 August 2022. fortune.com
  3. Gamaya and Terraview, AgNavigator, 7 August 2024. agnavigator.com
  4. Terraview funding, Inc42. inc42.com
  5. Fast Company, World Changing Ideas Awards, 2022 (Terraview).