Aerobotics doubles Series A funding to $4M, brings its yield estimation tech to the US
In South Africa, Aerobotics has expanded its Series A funding round from $2 million to $4 million. The funding round expansion came through a signed deal with Paper Plane Ventures and brings Aerobotics total funding to $4.6 million. The funding round expansion and three other announcements were made at Aerobotics’ new office launch event.
Aerobotics processes data from drone and satellite imagery through its proprietary artificial intelligence software to discover and analyze problems, pests and diseases affecting individual trees or vines on a farm. In addition to health, the software also measures size, height and canopy volume. This type of highly accurate data empowers farmers to make better decisions in the field, so they can increase their yield and produce a more balanced crop.
Aerobotics announced that it is launching the first natural step to automated, accurate yield estimation with a new tool for farm yield management. Currently in development, the yield management tool that is being built within the Aeroview app allows farmers to select a yield sample within their orchard, capture fruit counts and fruit size and get a report on the size distribution and number of fruits. This yield management tool helps farmers make informed decisions on how much fruit to thin during the early stages of the season to optimize their yield when it is time to harvest. This technology will be commercially available in the United States at the beginning of the 2019 growing season.
Aerobotics currently has two business development managers on the ground in the United States and is working with 10,000 acres of crops. The US-based staff is expected to grow to eight by the end of 2019 and will be based around the country where there are high concentrations of tree and vine crops.
“We are proud to have made the announcement about expanding our Series A funding round to $4 million at the launch of our new offices in Waterkant,” said Aerobotics Co-Founder and CEO James Paterson. “We are grateful that Paper Plane Ventures has put their faith and capital in our company, which we will use to expand our growth in South Africa, the United States and around the world and increase our ability of helping farmers and partners in the agriculture industry.”
Additionally, Aerobotics announced that two members of the Executive Team are moving to California to grow the company’s business development around the United States. Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Burdock and Chief Platform Officer Stuart van der Veen will be based in Los Angeles, where Aerobotics is set to launch its offices in the second quarter of 2019.
Category: Fuels
