ag-tech

Orchard vision system turns farm equipment into AI-powered data collectors

Agricultural robotics are not a new phenomenon. We’ve seen systems that pick apples and berries, kill weeds, plant trees, transport produce and more. But while these functions are understood to be t

Bluewhite rakes in $39M for robots-as-a-service that can be retrofitted to drive any tractor

Agriculture has a long heritage of being constantly disrupted by technology, an evolution that has continued to play out until today. In one of the latest developments, an Israeli startup called Bluew

Farm-ng makes modular robots for a broad range of agricultural work

Agriculture is poised to be one of the next great robotics categories. Everyone needs to eat, and much of what we eat in this part of the world comes from large farms. Farm work is tough on the body a

The Burro Grande finds the agtech robotics firm going big

Burro has been on our radar since early  2020, when the company (then Augean) participated in a TechCrunch Robotics pitch-off. The Philly-based firm has actually been around since 2017, but it’s re

Eyeing vision-based autonomy for farm equipment, Bonsai Robotics raises $10.5M

One can’t accuse Bonsai Robotics of lacking focus. The Bay Area-based firm is starting with trees — specifically nut trees. Like most labor-intensive sectors these days, farms have suffered fr

Upward and onward

The future is very much yet to be written about vertical farming. In many ways, the technology presents hope in the midst of rising food safety concerns, aging populations and potential environmental

Monarch delivers its first robot tractor

Monarch Tractor this morning announced the delivery of its first MK-V unit. The “smart tractor” is electric and what the Bay Area-based company refers to as “driver optional” (terms like “au

Gotham Greens just raised $310M to expand its greenhouses nationwide

That’s not a typo. $310 million, with a zero at the end. This latest round brings Gotham Greens’ total funding up to $440 million since its 2009 launch. The nine-digit raise was led by BMO Impact

Agtech robotics firm FarmWise just raised another $45 million

The rest of the startup universe may be struggling to bring in funds, but it’s still a good time to get a robotic raise. Agtech is high on that list. The median age of farmers is 55 years old in the

Urban greenhouse firm Gotham Greens set to double its footprint this year

Like many in the New York area, Gotham Greens first grabbed my attention by way of the greenhouses they installed on Brooklyn’s first Whole Foods location. The sight of the four glass structures ato

A new agtech robot enters the crop monitoring category

IUNU uses robots to keep an eye on greenhouse crops

Not going to lie, IUNU (pronounced “you knew”) is not the easiest name (further confusing matters is the presence of a robot called “LUNA”). But the agtech firm is involved in a solid business

Zoox acqui-hires team from robotic strawberry-picking startup, Strio.AI

Amazon-owned robotaxi firm Zoox this week announced that it has acquired Strio.AI. The Boston-based robotics startup was founded in 2020 by MIT alumns to bring autonomous picking and pruning to strawb

Verdant aims to be the (robotic) king of carrot weeders

Agtech is a massive industry aching to be disrupted by robotics. It’s a big category that’s going to require a number of solutions to various problems, though lately it’s been hit by a number of

Following acquisition by Bowery, Traptic’s strawberry-picking robotics pivot to vertical farming

We’ve been charting Traptic’s progress ever since the South Bay-based startup appeared on the Disrupt Battlefield stage back in 2019. The company carved out a potentially meaningful agtech niche i

Electric Sheep raises $21.5M to make off-the-shelf lawnmowers autonomous

IRobot announced Terra three years ago this week. After making some tough internal decisions to delay launch back in 2020, the robot mower is still MIA. For those with a lot of grass and far less time

Upward plans to open a 250,000-square-foot vertical farm in PA early next year

Brooklyn-based Upward Farms this week unveiled plans to launch a massive 250,000-square-foot vertical farm. Set for an early-2023 opening, the site will be located in Northeastern Pennsylvania’s Luz

John Deere’s self-driving tractor arrives later this fall

The 8R tractor has been in select customers’ hands for “a few seasons” now, according to John Deere. After all, like any kind of autonomous machinery, a self-driving tractor isn’t the kind of

Vertical farming startup Infarm raises $200M for international expansion

Europe-based vertical farming firm Infarm this week announced a $200 million Series D. The round, led by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), follows last year’s $170 million raise. It pushes the c

Gotham Greens opens a 10-acre farm/research facility in California

During the good number of hours I’ve spent researching and writing about vertical farming in recent months, one key word keeps popping up: proximity. So many of the resources spent on modern farming
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