California-headquartered Monarch Tractor, creator of the MK-V, the world’s first fully electric, driver-optional smart tractor, has smashed records with a $133 million Series C funding round. This is the largest fundraiser by an agricultural robotics startup to date.
With this round, the total funding raised by the company accounts for $220 million. In the agricultural robotics sector, startups such as Fieldwork Robotics and StrongBó Agritech raise investments.
Investment details
The investment round was co-led by global impact investor Astanor and HH-CTBC Partnership, L.P., with additional support from prominent investors, including At One Ventures, PMV, and The Welvaartsfonds.
The fresh capital will support the expansion of Monarch’s digital solutions and AI applications, including the development of Autodrive, Monarch’s autonomous operations feature, for new global markets and crop sectors.
What challenge does it tackle?
In the United States, farm profitability has steadily declined over the past decade, with the sharpest decline in industry history occurring in 2023. Given the nascent nature of technology in agriculture, the sector is ripe with untapped growth potential across automation, digital technologies, and AI efficiencies.
Realising this, Monarch Tractor was founded by Praveen Penmetsa, Carlo Mondavi, Mark Schwager, and Zachary Omohundro in 2017.
World’s first fully electric tractor
Tractors have been the centre of all farm operations for several decades. Yet, they’ve been underutilised as a hub for robotics innovation and farmer payback. Realising the potential for this machinery, Monarch released the world’s first fully electric, driver-optional, smart tractor, the MK-V in 2022.
It combats profit challenges, addresses sustainability demands, and revives agriculture innovation. Since then, the deployment of more than 400 MK-V’s has helped; resulting in more than 850 tonnes of harmful CO2 emissions offset across 42,000 hours of tractor operations.
WingspanAI platform
The company has also launched the WingspanAI app, which equips farmers with unprecedented access to on-farm data, integrating a farm management system, vehicle position tracking, crop image collection, and automated operations planning into one platform. The continual development of product solutions, including the introduction of new AI capabilities, will be the driving force in closing the industry’s profit gap.
“Driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and electrification, agriculture has arrived as the next frontier for the energy transition and sustainability movement,” said Praveen Penmetsa, CEO and co-founder of Monarch Tractor. “Agriculture is our planet’s most important and overlooked sector, and those in the industry have faced significant challenges, including farm profitability, labor shortages, worker safety, government headwinds, data availability, and scrutiny for sustainability demands. Monarch’s application of AI and introduction of a smart, electric platform will deliver robust social, economic, and environmental returns to farmers.”
What do we think about Monarch Tractor?
The company is a powerhouse in the agricultural space offering EV and AV solutions as it enables clean, efficient, and economically viable solutions. Also, it has expanded into various agricultural markets such as vineyards, dairy, berries, orchards, and land management across 12 states and three countries.
Furthermore, in just the last two years alone it has been recognised as an influential force in farming at national and international levels via accolades. With these achievements, it is a disrupter in the agricultural industry with immense potential.
