NexiaNect
The people behind the operational system
Operators and engineers, one team. We build the way the work actually runs - under peak pressure, offline when it has to be, and honest about complexity instead of hiding it behind another dashboard.
Our standard is simple: if it would not survive harvest to dispatch on a real export farm and packhouse, it does not ship.
The company
Who we are
NexiaNect exists to close the gap between how global export agriculture actually runs and the tools it is forced to use. We combine senior farm and packhouse operations experience with professional software engineering leadership – a combination most vendors never have in the same room.
That experience is not theoretical. It includes large-scale commercial berry production and packing for export markets, seasonal workforces over a thousand, multi-department mass balance, payroll under peak pressure, and the daily reality of GLOBALG.A.P., HACCP, retailer programmes and PPECB scrutiny. We have managed the environments the software is supposed to serve.
Our edge is not a feature list. It is the ability to design from a farmer’s and packhouse manager’s perspective - seasonal labour, budgets and planning, food safety compliance load, sustainability goals, and real inter-departmental flow – so the system reflects how the operation actually works, not how a vendor imagines it works.
Why we started
In our own words
Raymond Clench · Founder & CEO
“I worked a decade in operations on a large-scale commercial berry farm and packhouse. I climbed the ladder from administrator to department manager. I lived the payroll crises, the mass-balance discrepancies between departments, the shifts where the system was the problem – not the people. Our systems did not communicate or agree on reality.
Manual paperwork, no central reference points. Duplication everywhere. Missing papers during audits.Spreadsheets, disconnected payroll, standalone packhouse tools and separate compliance platforms were the norm. Every season we paid for that fragmentation in risk, waste and trust.
I didn’t start NexiaNect because agri-tech looked exciting. I started it because the tools we had were never designed by people who had to run the operation when fruit and logistics was waiting and the workforce was watching the clock. CIBYR OS is the system I needed when I was still on the floor.”
Tariq Essop · Founding CTO
“I spent over 15 years designing, securing, and scaling enterprise systems in corporate tech. Across every project, I saw the exact same gap: agriculture was completely left behind by modern software engineering, relying on fragile, disconnected tools that failed to communicate or scale.
For far too long, the software running one of humanity’s most vital industries felt like a legacy afterthought. Modern farming isn't simple – it’s a high-stakes mix of biological crop variables, complex field operations, and market volatility that generic tools can't handle.
I didn’t join NexiaNect to add to the noise. I joined forces with Raymond to bring big-tech architectural standards directly to the farm. NexiaNect is the enterprise engine built to give agricultural operations the reliability, security, and velocity they should have had all along.”
Timeline
Our journey
NexiaNect founded. FRUX development begins and pilot test completed.
Founding CTO, FRUX development past 30%, website live, seeking pilot partners and investors.
Commercial FRUX, then full CRES + FRUX integration. Strategic pilots with export groups shaping the product under real load.
CIBYR OS as the operating baseline for export agriculture – built with operators, not sold at them.
The team
Leadership
Raymond Clench
Founder & CEO
10+ years in senior operations management for large-scale commercial berry farming and packhouses. Deep expertise in compliance, production, payroll and the day-to-day failures of fragmented systems. Raymond’s operational leadership keeps every design decision tied to how the work actually gets done.
Tariq Essop
Founding CTO
15 years in professional software engineering, including Director of Engineering and Lead Engineering Manager roles. Tariq owns technical architecture, team scaling and delivery discipline – ensuring the platform is robust enough for environments where downtime is not an option.
Years export horticulture operations
Years software engineering leadership
FRUX complete & live-validated
How we build
Mission values
Mission-critical
FRUX and CRES must not halt when the line cannot wait. Peak harvest, late labels, payroll close – if the system fails then, it has already failed.
Q: Will it fail when we lose connectivity?
A: Never.
User in control
Give operators full control of the system. After-sales support should be rare – not the only way to keep a farm or packhouse moving.
Q: Can we run it ourselves?
A: Yes.
No wasted time
Captured work stays captured. Scanning eighty staff into a job must never mean doing it twice because a sync failed.
Q: Will I ever have to capture the same thing twice?
A: No.
Obvious under pressure
Thrown in at peak with no time for a manual, users should still find their way. Clarity is part of reliability.
Q: Can I figure it out myself?
A: Yes.
Safe under stress
Stress-taps must not multiply labels, double bookings, or corrupt a run. Actions stay safe when people are moving fast.
Q: Will stress-taps duplicate or corrupt work?
A: Never.
Whole system, not modules
CRES is the full farm engine. FRUX is the full packhouse engine. We will never sell sliced modules to extract more from the operation.
Q: Are we being nickel-and-dimed for modules?
A: Never.