Up Acre
Building a scalable geospatial platform for agricultural diversification
Up Acre was founded in 2022 to solve a growing problem in UK farming.
As traditional income streams tighten, farmers are increasingly exploring alternative revenue options, from solar and wind to housing and natural capital. But the existing route to diversification was slow, expensive and inefficient.
Traditional land agents could take up to 8 weeks to produce a report, often charging £6,000–£7,000 per review. At the same time, project partners were overwhelmed with poor-quality leads and unsuitable land.
Up Acre set out to change that. Their platform allows farmers to draw a boundary around a parcel of land and instantly see viable diversification opportunities, before being introduced to relevant project partners.
The ambition was clear:
Deliver instant, actionable answers to landowners
Provide higher-quality, engaged leads to partners
Remove unnecessary cost and friction from the system
The technology was central to making that model work.
The Problem
The initial version of the platform had been built by a previous supplier. While the core concept was strong, several critical issues were holding the business back.
Security Risk
A serious vulnerability meant sensitive GDPR data, including contact details and potentially passwords, could be accessed via developer tools.
The risk was significant and it required immediate action.
Platform Speed and Geospatial Processing
The platform processes large geospatial datasets across a mass set of data layers in order to analyse land selections and identify potential diversification opportunities.
For farmers often accessing the platform from rural locations with limited mobile connectivity, performance mattered.
The team considered upgrading server capacity, potentially adding £500–£1,000 per month in cost, but without guaranteed improvement.
Structural Inefficiencies
The mapping architecture functioned like “searching through every book in a library” to find one page. It worked, but it really wasn’t scalable.
Operational Management
Internally, much of Up Acre’s operational data was managed through spreadsheets.
However, one of the biggest inefficiencies came from the way the platform’s results were handled internally. While the system could generate complex diversification analysis for landowners, the team had limited access to those underlying results. This often meant recalculating or manually recreating outputs in order to process customer applications and manage follow-up activity.
Commercial Model Friction
The previous supplier operated on costly change requests. For an agile, test-and-learn business, this created financial drag and slowed innovation. Up Acre needed a partner who could move at their pace.
The Solution
The Curve conducted a full technical audit and stabilised the platform by addressing critical security vulnerabilities, improving geospatial data performance through architectural optimisation and introducing an in-memory database to speed up analysis. Alongside this, we developed a bespoke CRM and operational back-office system that centralised application management, gave the team direct access to platform data and replaced manual spreadsheet workflows, creating a secure, scalable foundation that allowed Up Acre to evolve the platform iteratively as the business grew.
Our Approach
We began with a full technical audit, rather than immediately rebuilding, we prioritised stabilisation and risk removal.
Immediate Security Remediation
The security vulnerability was addressed before commercial negotiations were even finalised. Sensitive data was secured and architectural weaknesses eliminated.We removed the risk and trust in the website was restored.
Rethinking Geospatial Performance
Rather than increasing server capacity, we focused on improving how the platform processed geospatial data and narrowed it down to the data that was useful.
The system analyses roughly 50 datasets to identify diversification opportunities when a landowner selects an area of land on the platform. Previously, querying this data was slower than it needed to be, particularly for users accessing the platform from rural areas with limited connectivity.
To address this, we restructured how the platform handled its data by introducing an in-memory database designed to significantly speed up query processing. This allows the system to retrieve and analyse geospatial datasets far more efficiently when users select land on the map.
While this introduced some additional engineering challenges internally, it ultimately enabled the platform to process complex datasets far more quickly and reliably.
The result:
Faster platform performance for landowners analysing their land
Reduced processing overhead when querying large geospatial datasets
Avoided unnecessary monthly infrastructure cost
All that was really needed was a smarter architecture, not a bigger server.
Iterative User Experience Refinement
Up Acre operates as an agile business so the platform needed to evolve in-market.
Through monthly consultative sessions, we:
Tested new features quickly
Removed ideas that didn’t work
Refined workflows based on real-world feedback
Simplified complexity where needed
This wasn’t a single delivery milestone, it was structured evolution.
Building a Bespoke CRM and Operational Back Office
To support growth, we developed a custom CRM and operational back office that brought key platform workflows into a single system.
This administrative environment centralised several previously manual processes, giving the Up Acre team greater visibility and control over how applications and data were managed.
The system now supports:
Land query application management
Application lifecycle and status tracking
Land analysis result access
Dataset and pricing updates
Partner routing and lead distribution
By bringing these operational processes together into a dedicated admin environment, the Up Acre team can manage applications more efficiently and respond more quickly to customer enquiries.
What had previously required multiple manual steps and spreadsheet updates is now handled through a structured operational interface designed specifically around the way the business works.
The Results
A significant GDPR vulnerability was removed, protecting sensitive user data and reducing regulatory exposure.
The platform now only processes geospatial data across roughly 50 datasets to analyse land and identify potential diversification opportunities.
Because Up Acre goes directly to landowners, they now generate a higher percentage of engaged and willing participants.
The bespoke CRM and admin environment centralised operational workflows and gave the team direct access to the platform’s analytical outputs.
The monthly development model enabled Up Acre to test, refine and adapt without costly change-request friction. For an agile company, this unlocked speed without sacrificing control.
The Curve stepped in at a critical point for us. They helped secure the platform, improve performance and give us the operational tools we needed to run the business properly. Just as important is how they work. The monthly model and collaborative approach mean we can test ideas quickly, refine what works and keep evolving the platform as the market develops.”