AgFunder Network Partners

Category: Robotics & Automation

SoftBank reports $24bn loss on startup investments, with agrifood performance unclear

May 19, 2020

SoftBank was among the world’s most active investors in the agrifoodtech space last year, according to AgFunder research.

Farm Tech investment up 370% in 6 years. How will Covid-19 impact 2020 trends?

April 30, 2020

Come rain, shine, or coronavirus, there’s just no halting the AgFunder Research mothership. AgFunder just unfurled its new 2020 Farmtech Investment Report — a data-driven snapshot of global investment in startups building technologies for the farm.

Covid-19 is accelerating inevitable food trends but which changes will stick?

April 29, 2020

The news cycle for the entire Covid-19 pandemic crisis has been awash with crises in the food industry, forcing various tech providers to step up to the challenge. But which will be left wanting when the virus eventually subsides?

Future Food Earth Day Special: Digging into dairy sustainability with Danone & Connecterra

April 22, 2020

In this Earth Day special of the Future Food podcast, I speak to Cees Jan Hollander, global director of farm relations, and Connecterra CEO Yasir Khokhar about their efforts to make the dairy sector more sustainable.

Restaurant tech offers consumers convenience, but headaches for operators

March 26, 2020

Consumers are demanding more digital offerings from restaurants, but new technologies are creating unexpected pain points for operators.

Wisdom (and wallets) of the crowd: Small Robot Company closes crowdfunding campaign at £2.1m

February 13, 2020

The VC firm 7percent Ventures is confirmed as lead investor, having plowed in £200,000. By the time of close, a total of 1,759 investors had backed the round.

Zap! This UK startup just raised €6.5m to commit electricide on weeds

January 22, 2020

RootWave owes its electrical spark of inspiration to years of earlier efforts from the CEO’s father who had been trying out ways to electrify weeds in the 1980s

A Swiss raclette-cutting robot wows CES 2020 in Las Vegas

January 17, 2020

One of the robo-stars of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was a slightly wacky invention from Switzerland: a robot that has been

‘Vive la AgRobolution!’ Naïo Tech raises €14m Series A to build more agri-robots

January 9, 2020

Naïo co-founder Gaëtan Séverac is bullish about the imminent and radical adoption of agri-robots; his company placed signs at its recent event calling for an “agrobolution.”

Protifarm raises Series B to scale robot-grown beetle “tofu”

December 12, 2019

The Netherlands-based alt-protein company is one of a small number catching investor interest for farming insects for human consumption rather than for animal feed.

Bonjour, robots! A list of agri-robots whirring round FIRA in Toulouse next week

December 5, 2019

Next week I’ll be singing au revoir Londres, bonjour Toulouse! as I fly to France for the International Forum of Agricultural Robotics, known by its French acronym of FIRA.

SoftBank-backed Accel Robotics is blending online & physical with check-out free technology

December 5, 2019

So far, checkout-free technologies appear to be using the same recipe of technology: will they be forced to diversify or die?

AgTech Exits: Raven Industries acquires two driverless tractor startups

November 7, 2019

Smart AG offers a driverless tractor technology to help farmers upgrade existing equipment to tackle time and labor challenges while DOT designs and manufactures ready-made autonomous equipment.

French poultry tech startup Tibot Technologies raises €3m seed round for health-boosting robot

October 16, 2019

The startup’s robots roam around poultry houses floors to encourage more bird movement and to prevent hens from laying eggs outside designated nest boxes.

Augmenta raises $2.5m seed round from Hardware Club, Marathon VC

October 8, 2019

The Greek tech startup will use the funds to support commercialization of its real-time device that analyzes crops and manages input application.

How to combat food safety concerns in Asia

October 3, 2019

Zebra Technologies helps mega corporations like Disney tackle the issue of food safety with its smart tech. Read on to find out why it’s important.

The land of alt milk and AI honey: notes from Israel’s AgriFood Week

September 26, 2019

I tucked into my first ever breakfast in Israel early this Sunday morning faced with a blatantly biblical reminder, but there’s nothing typical about the future milk and honey being developed by the country’s booming foodtech scene.

Fifth Season comes out of stealth with 60k sqft vertical farm & $35m in funding

September 24, 2019

The Pittsburgh-based startup has developed 40 different robots to shave labor costs so that it can offer produce at a competitive cost.

FarmWise raises $14.5m Series A to expand its weeding robot service

September 17, 2019

The robotics-as-a-service company helps farmers weed their crops and hopes to move into other applications in the future like plant health and monitoring.

As Minneapolis tries to ban drive-thrus, McDonald’s tries to automate them

September 12, 2019

Using different languages to order your food could soon become a moot point at McDonald’s drive-thrus, with the company’s acquisition of Apprente — a two-year-old startup that’s been making impressive strides in voice recognition software.