Farmers first
Every decision starts from the person in the field — their language, their connectivity, the moment they need an answer.
About DeepLeaf
A company of researchers, agronomists, and engineers turning frontier AI into decisions a farmer can act on — in their language, on the device already in their hand.
Why we exist
A billion people farm to feed the world — yet most work without the one thing that changes an outcome: the right guidance, at the exact moment it matters. We think that's the largest solvable intelligence gap on the planet. Closing it is the whole company.
- Founded
- 2022
- Headquarters
- 4 worldwide
- Team
- 30+
- Focus
- Global South
How it started
It began with a question nobody could answer fast enough.
A farmer photographs a struggling crop and the clock starts. By the time an answer comes back — if it comes back — the moment to act has often passed. Multiply that by one extension agent covering thousands of farmers, and you get agriculture's quiet, everyday crisis.
We founded DeepLeaf to collapse that delay to seconds. Our Agronomist models see a crop and reason like a specialist — we open-source a compact version so builders everywhere can start for free, and run a larger, far more capable model for the programs and businesses that need production-grade accuracy at scale.
Open at the base
We open-source a compact Agronomist model and publish our science, so builders everywhere can start on the same foundations we do.
Science over hype
Grounded, schema-valid, verifiable answers. If we can't stand behind a claim, we don't ship it.
Where the need is greatest
We build with partners on the ground, for the food systems that feed the most people.
The mark
A leaf, curling inward.
Our symbol is a single leaf spiralling in on itself — a small shape that carries the whole idea behind DeepLeaf.
- Depth
- The inward curl is about going deeper — past the surface of a leaf to the condition underneath, and past simple classification to real reasoning about what a crop needs.
- Deep learning
- Each fold echoes the layers of the neural networks at our core — the spiral is the model turning raw pixels into understanding, one layer at a time.
- Growth
- A curling leaf is also a leaf about to unfurl — new growth, a new season, the quiet optimism of a field that's about to thrive.
- Living intelligence
- The green runs from bright crop-lime to deep AI-forest: nature and machine intelligence as one continuous gradient, never two separate things.
Our journey
Milestones along the way.
- 2022
DeepLeaf founded
Placeholder — the founding story and first prototype.
- 2023
First field deployments
Placeholder — early pilots with partners in the region.
- 2024
Data platform at scale
Placeholder — the field data platform comes together.
- 2025
Compact Agronomist model open-sourced
Placeholder — a small, open Agronomist model released for the community.
The people
Led by innovators and changemakers.
A team combining AI, agronomy, impact, and design thinking — bringing years of experience and network to the field.
El Mahdi Aboulmanadel
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Lahcen Ait Houmaid
Chief Technology Officer
Davide Menguzzato
Head of Business Development & Impact
Patrik Nemčok
Head of Technology Adoption & Partnerships
Brahim Ezzahiri
Chief Research Officer
Rhofrane Benabdellah
Chief AI & Data Officer
Younes Ait Ouahda
VP of Full Stack Engineering
Amine Bendriss
Head of Food Security & Product Strategy
Where we are
Four headquarters, one mission.
From the farmlands of Morocco to Europe, the Gulf, and the US — we build close to the fields we serve and the partners we work with.
Sidi Bennour
Morocco
The Hague
Netherlands
Doha
Qatar
Delaware
United States
Recognition
Awards & prizes.
Backed by competitions, grants, and institutions across agriculture, climate, and tech.
$265K+
won in grants & prizes
Hivos
Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries
European Bank for Reconstruction & Development
EBRD Star Venture Programme
GITEX Africa
Supernova Challenge — 1st prize
Orange Social Entrepreneur Prize for Africa & the Middle East
POESAM — Morocco 2025, 1st prize
Qatar-Africa Business Forum
QABF — Qatar Museums & Qatar Investment Authority
Tamwilcom
Société Nationale de Garantie et de Financement de l'Entreprise
Initiative Nationale pour le Développement Humain
National Initiative for Human Development
Tech4Farmers
Impact Lab & Université Euromed de Fès (UEMF)
Pitch AgriHack
African Food Systems Forum (AGRF) & Heifer International
U-Founders
Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique (UM6P) incubator
Honours & recognition
WSIS Prize· e-Agriculture — ITU / United NationsFAO North Africa· 1st prize — Food and Agriculture Organization (UN)
Join the mission
Help us put an agronomist in every farmer's pocket.
Whether you're a government, an agribusiness, a development agency, or an engineer who wants to build — we'd love to talk.