AI-based robotics company Carbon Robotics announced it closed $30 million in Series C financing from new lead investor Sozo Ventures along with existing investors Anthos Capital, Fuse Venture Capital, Ignition Partners, Liquid2, and Voyager Capital. This funding round will be used to expand sales regions in North America, optimize and scale manufacturing, develop new software and hardware products, and launch into international markets. This latest round of financing brings Carbon Robotics’ overall funding to $67 million.
The LaserWeeder identifies weeds and targets them for elimination. And the implement’s 30 high-powered CO2 lasers use thermal energy to destroy the meristem of the weed with millimeter accuracy, without damaging nearby crops or disturbing the soil.
To date, Carbon Robotics’ LaserWeeders successfully eliminated over 500 million weeds across 40 different crops. And this year, the LaserWeeder will be delivered to farms across 17 U.S. states and three provinces in Canada. More recently, Carbon Robotics expanded the features of the LaserWeeder with the industry’s first LaserThinning capability, targeting areas where vegetable crops are purposefully overseeded and then thinned for optimal crop spacing, growth and yield.
As part of the Series C funding round, Rob Freelen with Sozo Ventures and Erik Benson with Voyager Capital will join the Carbon Robotics board of directors.
KEY QUOTES:
“Carbon Robotics’ elegant use of AI, computer vision, robotics and lasers is the only solution that enables farmers to reduce their most expensive line item – weed control – without damaging plants or the soil. I am particularly impressed with the team’s fast pace of innovation to bring breakthrough products to market, boosting farmers’ profitability across conventional, organic, and no-till practices.”
— Rob Freelen, managing director of Sozo Ventures
“This financing round further supports our mission to provide cost-effective and efficient precision ag-tech tools to growers. Traditional weeding methods, including hand weeding and herbicides, are expensive, unreliable and damage soil health. The LaserWeeder uniquely addresses all of these challenges.”
— Paul Mikesell, CEO and founder of Carbon Robotics
