In California, Abundant Robotics, the company automating orchard agriculture, announced $10 million in Series A funding led by GV with participation from BayWa AG, and Tellus Partners. Abundant will use the funding to commercialize several years of successful research initiatives in agricultural robotics and continue preparing its first product for commercial launch – a robotic apple harvester.
In late 2015, with research funding from the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission and SRI International, Abundant’s team demonstrated a robotic harvester prototype; and then in 2016, Abundant spun out from SRI to commercialize this technology. The company will focus on apple harvesting and in the long term expects to automate additional types of fresh fruit production.
Abundant’s new investors join existing investors Yamaha Motor Company, KPCB Edge and Comet Labs. Andy Wheeler, General Partner at GV, will join the company’s board of directors. To date, Abundant has raised $12 million in venture funding.