Agriculture robotics company Carbon Robotics has secured US$27m (£19.6m) in Series B financing to scale production of its weeding platform, grow its engineering team and establish regional teams across the U.S.
This latest round of financing, led by Anthos Capital, Ignition Partners, Fuse Venture Capital, Voyager Capital, Bolt and Liquid2 Ventures, brings the company’s overall funding to US$36m (£26m).
“This investment further validates our mission to create tools that utilise technology to address farmers’ toughest problems,” said Paul Mikesell, CEO, of Carbon Robotics.
“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.”
As previously reported by Robotics & Innovation, Carbon Robotics revealed its next-generation autonomous weeder earlier this year. The robot weeder utilises high-power lasers to eradicate weeds through thermal energy, without disturbing the soil.
The autonomous platform allows farmers to use less herbicides and reduce labour to remove unwanted plants while improving the reliability and predictability of costs, crop yield and more.
Erik Benson, managing director of Voyager Capital, added: “The company is making advanced technologies accessible to farmers, supporting their business operations by improving efficiencies and reliability as well as offering a sustainable method to support the management of their land.
“Carbon Robotics is fundamentally changing how farmers weed fields and has the potential to be this millennium’s Deere & Company.”
