Carbon Robotics, a leading player in the realm of AI-powered robotics, announced the close of their Series C fundraising round, which saw a total of $30 million come to the company courtesy of Sozo Ventures as the lead investor and existing backers Anthos Capital, Fuse Venture Capital, Ignition Partners, Liquid2 and Voyager Capital. This new injection of funds will be utilized to increase geographical coverage in North America, optimize and expand production processes, create new software and hardware products, and launch into foreign territories. With this latest completed funding, Carbon Robotics' overall financial support now stands at a healthy $67 million.
“We’re solving a real need that farmers have had for a long time, but we did not have the technological abilities to do this — until now,” said CEO Paul Mikesell.
The LaserWeederTM uses 30 high-powered CO2 lasers to destroy weed meristems with millimeter accuracy without damaging nearby crops or disturbing the soil.
As of this year, Carbon Robotics' LaserWeederTM will be delivered to farms in 17 U.S. states and three provinces in Canada, where it has successfully eliminated more than 500 million weeds across 40 different crops. Recently, Carbon Robotics introduced the industry's first LaserThinning capability to the LaserWeeder, targeting areas where vegetable crops are overseeded and thinned to ensure optimal crop spacing, growth, and yields.
Carbon Robotics' board of directors will be expanded by Rob Freelen with Sozo Ventures and Erik Benson with Voyager Capital as part of the Series C financing.
Based on specialty crop farm planted acreage, Carbon estimates the total addressable market at $41 billion.
Startups have become attractive acquisition targets for giants such as John Deere, which acquired autonomous driving startup Flag Robotics for $250 million in 2021 and bought SparkAI in March.
Crunchbase data shows that venture funding for robotics startups fell 44% year-over-year in 2022, falling to $9.8 billion. PitchBook reports that $10.6 billion was raised in agtech last year.