Carbon Robotics, an agriculture robotics company, announced Sept. 1 it secured $27 million in Series B financing from Anthos Capital, Ignition Partners, Fuse Venture Capital, Voyager Capital, Bolt and Liquid2 Ventures to accelerate the company’s growth.
The funding will be used to scale production of the company’s products, grow its engineering team, establish regional sales and support for customers across the U.S. and invest in the innovation of new products and technology. This latest round of financing brings the company’s overall funding to $36 million.
“This investment further validates our mission to create tools that utilize technology to address farmers’ toughest problems,” said Paul Mikesell, CEO and founder of Robótica de Carbono. “Weeding is one of the biggest challenges farmers face, especially with the rise of herbicide-resistant weeds and increasing interest in organic and regenerative methods. This round of investment will enable us to scale our operations to meet the increasing demand for this technology. Additionally, this funding will allow our team to continue to innovate new products and identify revolutionary ways to apply technology to agriculture.”
Brian Ames, managing director of Anthos Capital, added, “the team’s multi-disciplinary expertise encompassing advanced AI and ML, computer vision,and thermal energy, positions Carbon Robotics to be an important player in driving the agriculture technology revolution.”
En abril, Carbon Robotics revelou o seu Autonomous Weeder de próxima xeración, un robot autónomo que utiliza láseres de alta potencia para erradicar as malas herbas mediante a enerxía térmica, sen perturbar o chan. O robot permite aos agricultores usar menos herbicidas e reducir a man de obra para eliminar as plantas non desexadas ao tempo que mellora a fiabilidade e a previsibilidade dos custos, o rendemento das colleitas e moito máis.
con 263 especies resistentes a herbicidas en 71 países, a compañía experimentou unha gran demanda dos seus produtos, conseguindo un número de produtores de carpas e reservas que superan os 20 millóns de dólares. As granxas que solicitaron unidades de desbroce con láser inclúen Grimmway Farms, Carzalia Valley Produce, Mercer Ranches, Taylor Farms, Triangle Farms, Terranova Ranch, Bowles Farming Co, Braga Ranch, Duncan Family Farms e Amigo Farms. Carbon Robotics esgotouse os seus modelos 2021 e 2022 e comezou a aceptar pedidos para 2023.
"Carbon Robotics está nunha posición única para abordar problemas críticos que afectan aos agricultores, incluíndo o aumento das malas herbas e a diminución da man de obra dispoñible", dixo Erik Benson, director xerente de Voyager Capital. "A compañía está facendo que as tecnoloxías avanzadas sexan accesibles aos agricultores, apoiando as súas operacións comerciais mellorando a eficiencia e a fiabilidade, ademais de ofrecer un método sostible para apoiar a xestión das súas terras. Carbon Robotics está cambiando fundamentalmente a forma en que os agricultores desbrozan os campos e ten o potencial de ser Deere & Company deste milenio".
Como parte do financiamento, Carbon Robotics deu a benvida a Eric Scollard como asesor estratéxico de vendas para apoiar a traxectoria de crecemento agresivo da compañía. No seu papel, Scollard centrarase no desenvolvemento de iniciativas de expansión estratéxica que permitan a Carbon Robotics escalar de forma efectiva a distribución dos Autonomous Weeders e os produtos futuros. Scollard tamén apoiará o desenvolvemento dos equipos de soporte de vendas e rexionais. Durante os seus cargos executivos anteriores en ExtraHop, Isilon e Qumulo, Scollard impulsou un crecemento exponencial dos ingresos ao tempo que construía organizacións de vendas de clase mundial.
“The already demanding task of weeding has only gotten harder for farmers to manage as more herbicide-resistant weeds develop and the cost of herbicides increases,” said Cameron Borumand, general partner at FUSE. “Carbon Robotics has built a game-changing solution to solve one of the biggest problems in agriculture. Farmers have been innovative and resourceful in addressing this problem so far, but they deserve the best technology to help them execute one of the most important jobs in the world – putting food on people’s tables.”
Carbon Robotics is pioneering the next revolution in agriculture through the deployment of innovative technology and hardware. Carbon Robotics’ first product, the Autonomous Weeder, is purpose built to tackle one of the industry’s biggest problems: weed control.
By leveraging artificial intelligence and laser technology, Carbon Robotics’ revolutionary, high-precision approach improves crop yield, provides safer working conditions for farmers, reduces overall costs associated with modern farming, and creates sustainable paths to regenerative and organic produce. Carbon Robotics was founded in 2018 and is based in Seattle.
Para máis información, visite: carbonrobotics.com.