Swiss agtech start-up ecoRobotix has raised US$14.7 million in its latest Series C funding round. The company harnesses cutting edge AI technology to drive the transition towards more sustainable, eco-friendly and economic farming. With the proceeds of this funding round, ecoRobotix will accelerate the high-volume series production of its tractor mounted ARA plant protection spraying machine and drive its European expansion forward. The funding was led by Swisscom Ventures together with Verve Ventures and was strongly supported by existing ecoRobotix investors, including CapAgro, 4FO Ventures and BASF Venture Capital. Herbicide reducing technology ecoRobotix deploys cameras and advanced machine learning algorithms…
Author: Matt Peskett
Matt Peskett
Matt has worked in digital publishing and media for over two decades across the science, technology, food and agricultural sectors. With a lifelong passion for growing his own food, Matt also produces 300kg giant pumpkins for exhibition and volunteers with the Royal Horticultural Society. He has a sizeable horticultural social media presence and has been a finalist in the Garden Media Guild's blog of the year and social media awards. Matt also dabbles in start-up investment with companies like Small Robot Company, Drone Ag and RootWave.
Chinese drone specialist XAG is well known as the world’s largest manufacturer of flying agricultural drones, now their autonomous ground vehicle – the XAG R150 – has gone on sale in Japan. This follows the debut demonstration of the R150 as an unmanned pollinator in Japan’s Nagano prefecture earlier this year. The XAG R150 features an on-board JetSprayer system which can be used to pollinate fruit trees. A specially mixed solution of pollen is poured into the R150’s liquid tank before it is sent on a predetermined route around an orchard to autonomously spray pollen on to each tree’s blossoms. An…
UK-based start-up Antobot has secured £1.2 million in its seed funding round following a strategic investment from Intron Technology Holdings Ltd – a leading Chinese automotive electronics solutions provider. The funding will enable Antobot to develop various full applications starting with its scouting robot, ‘Insight’. Focusing initially on the £875 million UK fruit sector, Antobot’s ‘Insight’ robot travels autonomously through a farm and, using AI, gathers accurate, timely and rich data for deeper insight into crop yield, profile, and pest / disease management. Insight is powered using Antobot’s fully integrated automotive-grade universal Robot Control Unit (uRCU®) – what the team…
Describing itself as ‘Australia’s first and only specialist agrifood tech VC firm’, Tenacious Ventures Management Pty Ltd supports early stage start-ups with tech-enabled new business models focused on agricultural transition to a carbon neutral and climate change resilient future. Now Tenacious Ventures has closed its first venture capital fund, oversubscribed, at AUD$35M. Tenacious Ventures Fund I achieved its first close in March 2020 at just over AUD$20M, backed by cornerstone $8M commitments from the Australian Government Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and Mike & Annie Cannon-Brookes’ personal investment fund, Grok Ventures. Over the past year, Tenacious has made six investments…
Robotics & AI company – XAG – is one of the world’s leading agri-drone manufacturers – their flying machines can sow seeds, spray crops, and spread fertilisers. Since 2020 the Chinese technology firm has been developing closer ties with Ukrainian farmers in an effort to tap into what it considers a fast growing commercial opportunity. With very limited drone regulations and new land ownership reforms pending, XAG believes a new generation of tech savvy small-holders will embrace its drone technology in Ukraine. In 2020 XAG began collaborating with Ukraine’s DroneUA to distribute its agricultural drones and robots. Last month (April…
US-based AI and robotics company – TerraClear is focused on nuisance farmland rocks… and solutions for clearing them. Rocks in fields break expensive machinery and, as the race towards autonomous agricultural technology gathers pace, provide automated mapping and obstacle headaches. Even today TerraClear estimate that medium to large farms incur between US$5,000 and US$150,000 worth of annual damage and cost due to farmland rocks. Spread out over hundreds of millions of acres across the globe, TerraClear sees agricultural rock clearance as a huge unaddressed commercial opportunity. This week the company announced Series A funding of US$25 million led by Madrona…
Bird Control Group was founded in 2012 as part of an incubator program at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Since then the company has received multiple awards for its laser-based bird deterrent solutions, with products on sale in over 100 countries. This year two particular uses of its AVIX Autonomic Bird Deterrent product have caught our attention – one involving crop protection and the other bird flu prevention on poultry farms. Protecting Australia’s almond crops from birds using lasers Australia’s Almond Centre of Excellence (ACE) lies in the town of Loxton in the Riverland region of South…
Raven Industries, Inc. a US-based agricultural technology company, has announced the launch of its new product brand and autonomous growth platform, OMNi. All of Raven’s intelligent autonomous solutions for the agriculture industry will be branded with the OMNi prefix and are part of one connected ‘ecosystem’. OMNiDRIVE™ transforms existing tractors into driverless machines. It is the first farming application that allows farmers to monitor and operate a driverless tractor whilst seated in the cab of a harvester. Operated via an intuitive, tablet-based user interface, a harvester can offload on-the-go, then return the tractor and grain cart to a predetermined unloading…
Cargill UK is to roll out live temperature and humidity data at 30 dairy units following useful insights from a similar initiative that was trialled in Germany and the Netherlands. It is believed that dairy herd performance in terms of both production and fertility are negatively impacted by increased humidity and heat. To help dairy farmers and their advisers recognise and mitigate the signs of heat stress in dairy cattle, Cargill will install automated, cloud-based data loggers to capture temperature and humidity data online through the summer months. Live readings will be relayed by WiFi to a dedicated web page to…
Fresh produce preservation specialist Apeel has made its first acquisition – ImpactVision – a provider of hyperspectral imaging technology that enables suppliers to see inside and understand the interior quality of fruits and vegetables. The technology is to be integrated into Apeel’s existing application systems at supplier locations around the world – adding a new layer of insights to help fresh food suppliers and retailers further reduce food waste. Hyperspectral imaging technology The new imaging technology collects quantifiable data on the various stages of produce ripeness, freshness, nutritional density, and other indicators of quality. For Apeel this is a major…
