Bear Flag Robotics Raises $7.9M for Autonomous Tractors
January 21, 2021
Bear Flag Robotics, which is developing autonomous technology for farm tractors, announced a $7.9 million seed extension funding round, led by True Ventures. Since founding the company in 2017, the company has raised $12.5 million in funding from investors. Participating with True Ventures in the round was Graphene Ventures, AgFunder, D20 and Green Cow VC.
Bear Flag Robotics aims to increase global food production and reduce the cost of growing food through machine automation. It provides technology, services, and support to enable autonomous tractor operations, which helps growers produce more food with fewer resources. While the tractors run autonomously, human supervisors use Bear Flag’s software to monitor and command their fleet from a remote mission control room or personal device. The software plans optimal field patterns based on growers’ implements and provides predictive and post-run analytics that enable growers to farm better each season.
“I absolutely love this team and their mission, but when their customers told us how much they loved their Bear Flag tractors, and how farmers from the region would see it in the field and come pay a visit, we knew that this was a special company,” said AgFund partner Rob Leclerc. “Bear Flag has the potential to be one of the most important companies in agriculture over the next decade.”
The company is currently working with produce and commodity growers in California and Arizona. Its direct-to-growers sales model lets the company partner with its customers, ensuring a high-quality standard while continuously releasing software capabilities that drive the most impact on the ground, Bear Flag said. By linking seasonal data, the company said it can improve efficiency and lower costs through the entire growing season.
“When we first invested in Igino and Aubrey, we saw an innovative, passionate team bringing automation to farms,” said Rohit Sharma, partner at True Ventures. “The impact of what Bear Flag Robotics delivers is meaningful every single day for farm operations, growers and consumers.”
