Agtonomy Closes $32.8M Series A to Accelerate AI-Driven Automation in Agriculture and Expand into Autonomous Industrial Equipment • Sterling Anderson Joins Powerhouse Board Poised for Growth • Additional $10M Funding Led by Autotech Ventures • Fuels Expansion of Pilot Program for Permanent Crops
South San Francisco, California
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October 16, 2024 08:30 AM Pacific Daylight Time
Agtonomy, the pioneer in AI-enabled automation software for agriculture and land maintenance, has raised an additional $10M to close its Series A round, bringing total funding to $32.8M. This significant investment, combined with Agtonomy’s commercial offerings and scalable business model, positions the company for accelerated growth and market expansion over the next few years.
Autotech Ventures, the leading mobility venture fund, led the round. New investors include Rethink Food, Allison Transmission, and Black Forest Ventures. Existing backers Toyota Ventures, Flybridge, and Cavallo Partners continued their support.
This funding marks a pivotal moment in Agtonomy's mission to address labor and climate change challenges through advanced automation for industrial equipment fleet management.
“Agtonomy's innovative approach aligns with our mission to revolutionize mobility and automation across various sectors, starting with off-road autonomy. Their unique business model, which combines software expertise with established OEM partnerships, positions them to lead the transformation to autonomous fleet management. We look forward to supporting Agtonomy's experienced team as they address critical labor shortages and sustainability challenges in these industries,” said Alexei Andreev, founding partner of Autotech Ventures.
Agtonomy’s immediate growth plans include scaling its West Coast technical team into new markets, expanding its 2025 paid pilot program for permanent crops by 500 percent, and developing technology solutions for other industrial markets that seek world-class automation to improve margins.
“The impact Autotech has already had on our business is expansive. We could not have had a better lead investor in this round than this talented group who have focused on the world of mobility since their inception,” said Tim Bucher, CEO and Co-Founder of Agtonomy.
Powerhouse Board Validates Agtonomy’s Market Potential
Sterling Anderson, a Silicon Valley icon who led the team that created the original Tesla Autopilot and co-founded the leading independent developer of on-road autonomy, will join Agtonomy’s diverse Board of Directors.
“Agriculture is a vast and essential element of the human experience. Autonomy can make it better. I’ve been impressed with Agtonomy’s approach, focus, and execution to date and look forward to advising them on this important journey.,” said Sterling Anderson, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Aurora.
In May, Agtonomy announced that Jorge Heraud, formerly John Deere’s vice president of automation & autonomy, joined the Board, which includes both co-founders Tim Bucher and Valerie Syme, and Board Chair Jim Meyer, former SiriusXM CEO and current Vice Chair.
“By bringing together some of the most impactful technology leaders, our Board is enabling additional firepower in corporate strategy and governance to bring Agtonomy to its full potential,” said Valerie Syme, co-founder and COO of Agtonomy.
About Agtonomy:
Agtonomy is a California-based, farmer-founded software, services and technology company enabling autonomy to solve agriculture’s most immediate and pressing problems including labor scarcity, climate change and shrinking profit margins. Partnering within the equipment value chain for rapid commercialization, Agtonomy embeds their ‘smarts’ into brand-name tractors and implements, digitally transforming machinery into a remote-operated, task-driven ecosystem for safe, equitable, profitable and climate-smart agriculture. For more information, visit https://www.agtonomy.com/.
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AgTech PR for Agtonomy
Sara Winters
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