Agtonomy Closes Additional $5 Million to Accelerate Development of its Autonomy Platform for Local Agriculture
Toyota Ventures, Flybridge, Hampton VC (Sam Parr), E²JDJ and Momenta join additional Seed II round to bring autonomous technology to local farms and solve growing labor shortages
SAN FRANCISCO - January 18, 2021 - Agtonomy, a hybrid autonomy and tele-assist service platform, today announced that it has raised an additional $5 million in Seed II funding from strategic and venture investors Toyota Ventures, Flybridge, Hampton VC, E²JDJ and Momenta, for a total of $9 million in seed funding to date. This latest round will be used to accelerate development and trials of the Agtonomy platform to address the growing labor and sustainability challenges facing local agriculture. Existing investors GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Grit Ventures also participated in the new round.
“We find ourselves in a perfect storm as a global society with the challenges agriculture is facing. Agtech solutions such as autonomous equipment and a technology-enabled labor force are needed now more than ever.” said Tim Bucher, Agtonomy Co-Founder and CEO. “I couldn’t be happier with our incredible team of investors and look forward to working with them as we accelerate our mission to help local agriculture close the gap on labor shortages.”
The Agtonomy platform turns tractors and other equipment into autonomous machines providing a low-cost, technology-enabled labor force to manage such equipment. By partnering with some of the most trusted names in agricultural OEM equipment, Agtonomy will deliver immediate value to local farmers who must make continuous improvements, weather labor shortages and reduce field-to-table timelines, all while working with tight budgets and seasonal challenges.
“Our commitment to sustainability and the future of autonomy, battery and EV technology makes Agtonomy a perfectly aligned investment for our growing portfolio,” commented Jim Adler, the founding managing director of Toyota Ventures. “We see huge potential in agtech and are making investments accordingly - fully autonomous vehicles will become a reality on farms where they are desperately needed.”
“Agtonomy will be a key player in the delivery of technology to the local farming industry,” said Jesse Middleton, a general partner at Flybridge. “There are other companies successfully bringing crops to technology, such as our portfolio company Bowery Farming, and Agtonomy has identified a practical way to quickly bring technology directly to the crops.”
“We are excited to come on board to help the Agtonomy mission extend to Europe, where all regions face the same local ag challenges seen in the US,” shared Michael Dolbec, Managing Partner at Momenta. “I see the potential ahead for Agtonomy and look forward to mobilizing future farmers, entrepreneurs, businesspeople and consumers who care deeply about building and choosing sustainable, healthy food sources to secure our collective future on the planet.”
With this latest round of funding, Agtonomy will accelerate development and trials of its autonomy and tele-assist service platform, in addition to expanding its team and industry partnerships.
To learn more, visit Agtonomy.com.
About Agtonomy
Agtonomy, based in South San Francisco and Sonoma County, is a hybrid autonomy and tele-assist service platform with the venture backing of GV, Toyota Ventures, Grit Ventures, Flybridge, Momenta, Village Global, E²JDJ, and Hampton VC (founded by Sam Parr and Joe Speiser). The platform will give local agriculture and land maintenance operators the ability to solve the skilled labor shortage with autonomous equipment and greatly increase their efficiency. The executive team consists of veterans from the AI, EV, cloud service and agriculture industries, with extensive experience at companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, Dell, Microsoft, Uber, Cruise, and Zoox as well as lifelong farming experience at Northern California agriculture operations such as Trattore Farms.
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