Carbon Robotics
Carbon Robotics is expanding its southwestern regional sales and operations staff with a new LaserWeeder support hub in Salinas, with additional facilities expected to open soon in Bakersfield and Yuma. Carbon offers regularly scheduled laser weeding field demos at partner farms across the west. The company recently joined the WG Center for Innovation and Technology and is actively hiring field service engineers in Salinas, Bakersfield and Yuma. The company, based in Seattle, publicly launched its 20-ft. wide LaserWeeder implement at the World Ag Expo in February 2022. It is sold out of 2022 models and are accepting pre-orders for 2023 delivery.
Ganaz
Ganaz has announced the launch of Ganaz MasterCard Payroll Card, which it touts as significantly reducing payroll expenses for agriculture and food processing industries.
IntelliCulture
LahakX recently announced its new fundraising and rebranding. The new capital from both existing and new investors is being used to strengthen the company’s technology, business and regulatory development. LahakX expects to be fully commercially active later this year when it delivers its agricultural spraying to its comprehensive pipeline of customers. “We thank our investors, and are excited to have stronger resources so we can move faster to market,” said Eylon Sorek, LahakX Co-Founder and CEO. “We are committed to working out all of the technological, commercial, and regulatory barriers, to provide to our customers cutting-edge spraying solutions which will enable them to save time, chemical and labor costs.” Simultaneous to the latest bridge round, LahakX has rebranded from its former name of SkyX. LahakX offers growers and applicators a self-flying fleet of spraying drones. To meet farmers’ demands for more sustainable and profitable growing practices, Verdant Robotics has expanded its robot-as-a-service (RaaS) model to ensure access for more specialty crop farmers. Founded in late 2018 by a leading roboticist, a software engineer, and a California farmer, Verdant has raised $21.5 million to develop a multi-action, autonomous farm robot capable of millimeter- accurate spraying, laser weeding and AI-based digital crop modeling. Verdant uses these tools in an attempt to deliver better outcomes: larger produce, greater yields and significant savings. The company claims to have contracted to service approximately 40 percent of the U.S. carrot market. Verdant logged thousands of hours in 2021 and claims to already have been proven on multiple crops. Combining multiple technologies, the company’s advises that its 6-row and 12-row commercial implements can treat up to 4.2 acres per hour, achieving a higher weed-removal rate per acre than other technology or human ability, and reducing chemical usage by up to 95 percent. Simultaneously, its autonomous software system collects data and uses machine learning capabilities to optimize yield and growing outcomes. Ontario-based software startup, IntelliCulture, has secured $1.7 million CAD in seed financing to fuel the growth of its farm management platform. The round consisted of a group of strategic investors and industry experts, led by Emmertech (an agtech focused VC fund managed and operated by Conexus Venture Capital) and supported by 519 Growth Fund. Founded in 2018, IntelliCulture provides equipment management software for farms to provide insights into spray coverage, operational health and labor management. The platform helps growers realize savings through digitizing and automating the management process. With the closing of the seed round, the company plans to grow its the team by doubling the headcount within the next year. IntelliCulture primarily serves growers in the high-value crop space, but is lately extending its reach into other crop types through their plug-and-play platform. They offer IOT devices that are backwards compatible with all makes, models and years of machinery on the farm that feed data into their reporting and software. To learn more about IntelliCulture, visit: www.intelliculture.com
LahakX (previously SkyX Solutions)
Verdant Robotics
MAY | JUNE 2022
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Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com
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