FarmWise Raises $45 Million for Weeding Robot

Agricultural automation startup FarmWise has raised $45 million in Series B funding for its pipeline of AI-powered farm equipment, including weeding robotic solution Titan. 

The latest funding round was led by leading AgTech venture firms Fall Line Capital and Middleland Capital, with participation from Alphabet’s VC arm GV, as well as agricultural producer Taylor Farms. With the latest investment, the San Francisco-based startup’s total equity funding to date has reached $65 million. 

With supply chain disruptions, a worsening economic landscape and labor shortages, FarmWise has said it envisions its tech to offer affordable respite to farmers.

“We started FarmWise with the conviction that farmers should be supplied with cost-effective, sustainable solutions to feed a growing world, and artificial intelligence is the ideal technology to make this a reality,” said Sebastien Boyer, co-founder and CEO of FarmWise. “With rising costs in the agricultural industry, we’re continuing to expand our technology to work with many more farmers.”

The FarmWise platform harnesses sensors, cameras and AI to gather “plant-level data” that allows its Titan robot to identify between healthy crops and weeds, with a set of robotic arms underneath the bot removing individual plants when necessary. 

The group has been commercially deploying its technology in vegetable farms across California and Arizona for three commercial seasons. These farms reported their revenue increased threefold with the help of the bots. With the latest funding, FarmWise hopes to further develop its vegetable weeding product and accelerate its rollout to wider markets.