Tag: drones

Bowery’s strawberry bot buyout

February 24, 2022

Bowery announced its acquisition of robotics startup Traptic last week. Here, AFN analyzes the deal and what it means for the wider indoor ag space.

Brief: India to offer subsidies of up to 100% to encourage farm drone adoption

January 25, 2022

Drones could be revolutionary for Indian agriculture – but their cost means they remain out of reach for most of the country’s farmers.

Tevel CEO Yaniv Maor and chairman Eyal Desheh

Meet the founder: Tevel’s Yaniv Maor talks field trials with flying robots

January 20, 2022

Tevel is trialling its tethered drone-based system that can harvest fruit from treetops and carry out other tasks, such as pruning, trimming, and thinning.

Data Snapshot: Farm robotics startups raised $491m in H1 2021 to automate the basics

December 1, 2021

Many of big deals during H1 involved startups automating simple, everyday tasks within broader agricultural operations.

Q&A: Aerobotics co-founder James Paterson on centering the farm in ‘farm tech’

November 29, 2021

The Cape Town-based startup considers itself a farming company enabled by technology, rather than a tech company working in ag, says CEO James Paterson.

American Robotics drone Scout emerging from ScoutBase

Ondas acquires American Robotics for its ‘rugged, real-world’ drones that can fly by themselves

May 19, 2021

The startup claims to be the first to receive approval from the US Federal Aviation Authority for drone flights beyond the visual line of sight.

EAVision raises $30m Series C funding for its mountaineering ag drones

April 26, 2021

The Suzhou-based startup is targeting the 34% of China’s farmland which is in mountainous areas, much of which is dedicated to fruit, nut, and tea cultivation.

Brief: Chinese dronemaker XAG raises $46m

March 17, 2021

This latest injection follows a $182 million round late last year which was co-led by Baidu Ventures and SoftBank Vision Fund II.

EXCLUSIVE: Tevel’s flying fruit bots raise $20m from Asian ag giants, AgFunder

January 27, 2021

Israel’s Tevel has a somewhat sci-fi solution to address the declining availability of human fruit pickers: Flying robots with mechanical claws and AI-powered vision.

‘Drones-as-a-service’ firm Deveron completes $4.56m funding via private placement

January 13, 2021

The Toronto-based company has pivoted from drones as a core business to offering multi-layer analytics as farmers seek the most bang for their data bucks.

Bayer backs drone spraying platform Rantizo in $7.5m Series A round

December 2, 2020

Iowa City’s Rantizo integrates with drones and imaging tech to identify crop protection issues and deliver “precise in-field applications of crop inputs.”

Chinese drone maker XAG nets $182m funding from Baidu, SoftBank

November 16, 2020

The Guangzhou-based startup offers UAVs for fertilizer and pesticide application, remote sensing, and seeding – and has also branched out into ground-based robots, cameras, and sensors.

Taranis banks $30m Series C with tech giants Hitachi, Micron among new investors

July 21, 2020

The round’s large close amid Covid-19 further cements Taranis’ reputation as a dogged drone survivor in one of the most scrutinized areas of agtech.

Funding for agri-drone companies in a time of corona: futurism or folly?

July 6, 2020

Recent funding for remote-sensing companies like AgroScout could signal a revival for providers of agri-drone technology.

Why the world’s largest beer company is investing in agtech

June 17, 2020

“We’re the largest beer company in the world and the largest user of malting barley, so when you think about where investment into breeding research or the supporting tech comes from, if we’re not going to do it, who will?”

Agtech will take off in 2020: 5 trends to watch

December 20, 2019

From major equipment manufacturers’ forays into robotics to the emergence of new startups looking to improve farmer awareness of field activity, here’s what to watch for in the year ahead in the US, according to experienced agtech entrepreneur Corbett Kull.