The significance of SkySquirrel Technologies’ transformative deal announced last week far outweighs the number attached to it. The transaction will send ripples through the AgTech sector in the region and points to a few important trends in the Atlantic Canadian startup community.

CEO Richard van der Put announced that the company had raised $3 million and would use most of it to finance a cash-and-stock acquisition of its Napa Valley-based partner, VineView Scientific Aerial Imaging.

As separate companies, they had produced imaging and data for the wine industry — possibly the highest-margin segment of the agricultural sector. Now they will be a single company called VineView, based in Bedford, N.S., with offices in northern California and France.

Here are five takeaways from the announcement:

1. Atlantic Canada is getting some serious strength in AgTech data analytics. In 2016, Fredericton-based Resson raised US$11 million (C$14 million) from Monsanto Growth Ventures and other investors and opened a Silicon Valley office. Partnering with Monsanto was huge for Resson, which already worked closely with McCain’s Foods. Now the new VineView has a Napa Valley base, staffed by its new CSO Matt Staid and his CFO wife Melissa Staid. These two companies are well-positioned, well-connected and adequately funded.

2. SkySquirrel finally has IP. Resson was always seen as the stronger company because its intellectual property had been developed in-house by CTO Rishin Behl. In the SkySquirrel-VineView partnership, VineView owned the IP and data while SkySquirrel specialized in using drones and cameras to collect data. It was like the Nova Scotia company owned the Brinks truck while VineView owned the gold inside. Now SkySquirrel owns the whole kit and caboodle.

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3. Corollary to No. 1: We’re getting serious strength in AgTech overall. Resson and the new VineView are just two high-flyers among the East Coast AgTech companies. Having raised $8.5 million two years ago, Halifax’s TruLeaf Sustainable Agriculture is close to completing its indoor farm in Guelph, Ont. It’s interested in AI and data analytics in its farms. Two young Fredericton-based companies are gaining loud plaudits hither and yon. Pfera, which tells horse owners when their mares will give birth, won New Brunswick’s Breakthru competition and the regional BioInnovation Challenge. And SomaDetect was a co-winner at the Fierce Founders bootcamp in Kitchener and won US$1 million at North43 in Buffalo.

4. M&A is becoming more common (and Atlantic Canadian companies aren’t always the sellers). Two years ago, Halifax’s Metamaterial Technology bought the business of Silicon Valley peer Rolith Inc. to accelerate the development of its manufacturing facility. Now SkySquirrel has merged with VineView, with the Canadian partners in the driver’s seat. Conclusion: A select few Atlantic Canadian startups have the ambition and access to capital to grow through acquisition.

5. There’s a reason they call it “hard”-ware. Building a business around devices is difficult. There are usually bigger, better-financed competitors who can do it better. SkySquirrel began as a drone company and now it's focusing on the gathering and interpretation of visual data.