as those and other categories shrunk, automation gains just largely stayed in place. 2. The spending by investment stage (or round) for automation has completely flipped in 10 years. In 2015, the amount of spending on Seed + Series A rounds was 72 percent and Series B and later was 28 percent. That mix has steadily shifted toward a smaller Seed/Series A percentage and a larger Series B and later percentage. The results from the table show that in 2014 the switch was entirely flipped to 22 percent on Seed and Series A and 78 percent on Series B and later. The narrative is straightforward when you look at the data. In the early years, much of the 78 percent of funding went to early-stage seed and A rounds—loosely the experimentation phase of agrifoodtech venture capital, spreading a lot of capital across multiple bets in a segment and letting the market determine which ones get traction and the latest round of financing. Then after 2020, the investment dollars began to concentrate into fewer, capital-intensive platforms. This is also a natural evolution in capital markets because investors generally leave funds available to participate in follow-on rounds and maintain their pro rata position to avoid getting diluted by later investors with new capital or (in the parlance of venture capitalists) taking a larger position to “own the cap table.” Finally, in 2023 and 2024, 75 percent to 80 percent of automation investment capital goes to Series B or later. This would include Carbon Robotics, Verdant Robotics, Ecorobotix, Farmwise (pre-sale to Taylor Farms) and GUSS (now fully
acquired by Deere in summer 2025 after a joint venture investment). There are two trends going on here. The first is that as these companies gain early traction and then continue the momentum in the marketplace with revenue growth, they are able to raise capital (or at least attempt to raise capital), so more later-stage capital is needed. The second is that with the 80 percent reduction in agrifoodtech venture capital, the funnel needs to shift even more to portfolio protection and taking care of the cap tables you are already on. In short, given the choice of making new early-stage bets or doubling down on existing investments, many investors are choosing the double down strategy. 3. There are a few years that really stand out for agrifoodtech automation. In 2017, automation went up 92 percent ($109 million to $209 million), followed by 76 percent in 2018 (to $368 million). Then another two-year period showed huge growth. First, 2020 was a 112 percent growth year ($179 million to $380 million), and 2021 was an 84 percent growth year to $700 million. Obviously, not every year was as good, thus the drop that enabled the jump in 2020/2021. The trend to watch is the overall automation percentage of total agrifoodtech investment, which has now been 4.9 percent and 4.8 percent the past two years. It’s good to see it near 5 percent the past two years. Unlike other categories, automation is solving one of the largest problems in agriculture—particularly for specialty crops. That would be labor availability and cost.
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15 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com January – March 2026
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