• Technology Enhancement: The startup has grown its product from a mobile app to now a fully integrated product, where customers can easily integrate AgVoice into their existing food safety software. The company is in the midst of developing a seamless integration kit that will allow fieldworkers to work with their eyes free and heads up as they dictate food safety updates into the farm’s current data collection system. “If startups have a solution that solves real world problems, the AgSharks competition is best ecosystem in world for helping them get to the next level.” – Bruce Technology Offered: Augean Robotics builds robots to help farmworkers work more productively, with the long-term objective of automating all of the tedious work performed on the farms and outdoors. Their product, Burro, is a robotic platform that follows workers, moves cargo autonomously, and captures the data needed to further automate farm work. AgSharks Winnings: $250,000 in equity investment during the 2018 AgSharks Competition. Company Progress Since AgSharks: • Funding : The $250,000 equity investment from S2G Ventures played a significant role in helping propel the robotics startup to reach a $1.5 million Rasa, CEO of AgVoice AUGEAN ROBOTICS
“AgSharks very directly helped us raise enough money to scale up and get a fleet of robots out there in the field. Also, as a result of the competition, customers are very apt to talk with us because if they Google us, they see how we are supported and backed by well-respected, well-regarded organizations like WG and S2G.” – Charlie Andersen, CEO of Augean Robotics In addition to creating the AgSharks competition, S2G and WG are embarking on several other initiatives to accelerate technology in the food and agriculture industry. “Through AgSharks, we’ve created a foundation that will allow us to be more fruitful beyond one event each year,” said Kapacinskas. “We are now going deeper with members to identify specific pain points and opportunities that can result in serving the grower/shipper community and ag network in a more engaging manner.” S2G is fully engaged with WG in developing a deep understanding of member concerns and works directly with both WG and its member companies to develop strategies and bring technology forward to address those concerns. S2G holds a unique position within the WG Food Safety, Science and Technology committee, which is comprised of 20 members of the WG Board of Directors who are involved in routine discussions with the board about priority issues for the association. In addition, WG and S2G
seed round in April. • Expanding Client Base: Augean has been working with the California Table Grape Commission and several WG member companies to deploy their robots in table grape vineyards across the state. The robots are assisting farmworkers who are picking 12 to 16, 40-pound bins per hour. After the implementation of the robots, table grape farmers are now seeing a 20-30 percent productivity gain from having Burro carry materials autonomously in the field. • Technology Enhancement: As a direct result of the AgSharks winnings, the startup was able to launch a fleet of 16 Burros. The fleet has run for about two months now, racking up several hundred autonomous miles in a variety of fields including blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and grapes. Burro is now on its fifth version and the startup is working out the last kinks related to the autonomous movement of the robot. Augean anticipates that going into the 2020 season, the sixth generation of Burro will be available commercially to growers of table grapes. • Expanding Employee Base: At the time of AgSharks, the company had four employees. Today, the company has seven team members, all who have a technical focus.
staff work together to conduct “deep dives” with select WG members to better understand technology needs, problems, markets, etc. These one-on- one conversations with leaders in the produce industry are invaluable for both WG and S2G as they provide detailed information on technological needs, how things are being received and the potential for them to scale. WG also engages companies that S2G has invested in with member trials, as appropriate, and S2G has full access to the innovation sessions that originate within WG or the WG Center for Innovation and Technology. S2G is currently participating in
Charlie Andersen, CEO of Augean Robotics, pitching at 2018 AgSharks Competition.
34 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2019
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