US$46.5 million for Verdant’s autonomous farm robots

California-based robotic farming company – Verdant Robotics – has this week announced the closure of a US$46.5 million Series A funding round. The investment injection will be used to scale the firm’s advanced robotic technology and accelerate broad adoption of its regenerative and precision ag solutions.

Verdant’s multi-action, autonomous platform is the only ag robot in the U.S. market that can simultaneously weed, fertilise, and treat plants for pests and diseases – all while collecting data on each plant allowing farmers to make decisions in real time. Its Robotics-As-A-Service (RaaS) is already in use across a wide variety of specialty crops on thousands of acres with Verdant confirming that it has orders pending for tens of thousands of additional acres.

Lead investor in this round Cleveland Avenue was joined by DCVC Bio, Future Ventures, SeaX Ventures and all existing investors, including Autotech Ventures, Cavallo Ventures, and AgFunder, making the series one of the largest investments in ag robotics to date. The funding enables Verdant to rapidly scale its fleet while developing next generation products that massively increase RaaS efficiency.

“Increasingly, consumers are demanding food that meets the trifecta of good for me, for my community and for the planet,” said Don Thompson, Founder and CEO of Cleveland Avenue, LLC. “Verdant offers next-level precision that growers – and our global food supply – need to meet these demands, not only in the next 20 years but in the next five.”

Robot-As-A-Service – “Doing More With Less”

From its inception, Verdant’s mission has been to work side-by-side with farmers to solve their biggest future challenge – a shortage of farm labour – all while ensuring its robotic solution enables more growers to access regenerative and precision practices supporting soil health, water conservation, carbon sequestration and nutrient-dense crops. Verdant’s combination of automation, deep-learning, machine vision and sub-millimetre accuracy designed by a world-class team of roboticists has garnered industry-wide attention for its ability to solve multiple problems facing agriculture.

“Verdant’s ultra-precision spraying platform is here today – adding new value while doing more with less. Thanks to the ongoing support from our investors, growers can thrive as we deploy this transformative technology together,” said Gabe Sibley, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Verdant Robotics. “At Verdant, we believe that an outsized opportunity requires an oversized effort that only robotics can deliver for agriculture.”

The global agriculture autonomous robots market is projected to reach US$10.5 billion in 2027, growing at a CAGR of 19% during the forecast period 2022-2027; driven by the growing need for precision, digital, and smart agriculture practices to meet food and sustainability demands.

“Autonomous vehicles and dancing robots may get headlines, but there really is no more impactful area for robotics, automation and machine learning to be applied than agriculture. Growing abundant foods in sustainable ways is our generation’s biggest challenge and the founding principle behind Verdant Robotics,” concluded Sibley.