SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FarmWise, a pioneering business that builds autonomous farming robots, today announced that it has raised $14.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Calibrate Ventures. In addition to existing investors backing FarmWise’s vision, agriculture company Wilbur Ellis, Xplorer Capital and Alumni Ventures Group are participating in the round. The proceeds will be used to grow the company’s robotic engineering and operation teams, as well as boost R&D efforts on plant-level detection and actuation capabilities.
Farmers globally are in need of eco-friendly processes that address the rising demand for organic produce and increasing regulatory initiatives for more sustainable agriculture. FarmWise's autonomous, AI-enabled robots are designed to solve farmers’ most pressing challenges by performing a variety of farming functions - starting with weeding, and providing personalized care to every plant they touch. Using machine learning models, computer vision and high-precision mechanical tools, FarmWise’s sophisticated robots cleanly pick weeds from fields, leaving crops with the best opportunity to thrive while eliminating harmful chemical inputs. To date, FarmWise’s robots have efficiently removed weeds from more than 10 million plants.
“The FarmWise robot is a great field solution we can rely on to tackle our critical challenges. It is very exciting to see the progress that has been made over the months,” said Alain Pincot, owner of Bonipak and early customer of FarmWise.
Sebastien Boyer, Co-Founder and CEO of FarmWise, commented, “Each day, one FarmWise robot can weed crops to feed a medium-sized city of approximately 400,000 inhabitants. We are now enhancing the scale and depth of our proprietary plant-detection technology to help growers with more of their processes and on more of their crops. Looking ahead, our robots will increasingly act as specialized doctors for crops, monitoring individual health and adjusting targeted interventions according to a crop’s individual needs.”
Jason Schoettler, Co-Founder of Calibrate Ventures, will join FarmWise’s Board of Directors. Mr. Schoettler added, “We are thrilled to support FarmWise, which has managed to bring a radical idea from concept to commercialization in under three years. This is a testament to their uniquely talented team, problem solving capabilities and deep understanding of their customer and market. FarmWise is poised to fundamentally disrupt farming processes and we are excited to play a role in their future.”
About FarmWise
Founded in 2016, FarmWise builds adaptive robots for agriculture. Supported by a team of 25 farming and AI experts from MIT, Stanford and Columbia, the company develops autonomous machines to farm every single plant for greater yield, better farmer’s profits and a healthier environment.
About Calibrate Ventures
Calibrate Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm that partners with transformative consumer and enterprise technology companies to accelerate growth and drive commercialization through right-sized financing and expert operational guidance. The firm leverages its industry expertise and powerful network of entrepreneurs, investors, and partners to help innovators maximize their potential. Calibrate invests in great companies nationally but calls Southern California home. For more information, please visit www.calibratevc.com.
