Monarch Tractor, the creator of the world’s first fully electric, driver-optional smart tractor and Wingspan Ag Intelligence (WingspanAI) farm management platform called MK-V announced $133 million in Series C funding, making it the largest round in agricultural robotics history. This funding 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.
Monarch quickly became a giant within the agricultural space as an off-road electric vehicles (EV) and autonomous vehicles (AV) category leader. So far, the company has raised over $220 million to enable clean, efficient, and economically viable solutions and expanded into various agricultural markets such as vineyards, dairy, berries, orchards, and land management across 12 states and three countries.
In just the last two years, they have been recognized as an influential force in farming at national and international levels via accolades. The Series C funding will support the further development of Monarch’s cutting-edge AI product offering and expansion of its operational footprint domestically and globally while enabling the company’s path to profitability.
Launched on the belief that food security only exists with planet sustainability and farmer profitability, Monarch has been at the forefront of the critical transition to renewably powered and more profitable farming ecosystems, which empowers farmers worldwide.
In December 2022, Monarch released the world’s first fully electric, driver-optional, smart tractor, the MK-V, to combat profit challenges, address sustainability demands, and revive agriculture innovation. And since then, the deployment of more than 400 MK-V’s has helped, resulting in over 850 tons of harmful CO2 emissions offset across 42,000 hours of tractor operations.
Monarch’s WingspanAI app is equipping farmers with unprecedented access to on-farm data. It integrates a farm management system, vehicle position tracking, crop image collection, and automated operations planning into one platform. The continual development of product solutions, including introducing new AI capabilities, will be the driving force in closing the industry’s profit gap.
This funding round supports 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.
KEY QUOTES:
“Driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and electrification, agriculture has arrived as the next frontier for the energy transition and sustainability movement.”
“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.”
- Praveen Penmetsa, CEO and co-founder of Monarch Tractor
