British agri-tech start-up Small Robot Company has topped up its funding pot after crowdfunding £1.2 million to advance sustainable farming.
To date, the company has raised £2.5 million including two awards from the UK’s innovation engine Innovate UK, £300,000 seed funding from farmers, a £50,000 award from the Institute of Engineering and Technology and a further £50,000 via crowdfunding.
This latest campaign has secured support from high-profile investors including Matt Jones, Principle Designer at Google AI; Mark Ellingham, founder of the Rough Guides; and Andrew Ward, MBE, Farmers Weekly Farming Champion and ‘Arable Farmer of the Year’.
Small Robot Company harnesses the power and precision of robots and AI to improve the way that food is produced and minimise chemical usage.
It aims to make farms more profitable and increase yield and efficiency, through using small robots instead of tractors. Its farmbots Tom, Dick and Harry will plant, feed and weed arable crops autonomously, with minimal waste.
“This is game-changing for Small Robot Company,” said company co-founder Sam Watson Jones.
“We have already made phenomenal progress. Just one year on from our foundation, we already have three prototype robots and an AI that can tell Wheat from Weed.
“With this backing through Crowdcube, we are now poised to completely transform food production.
“We were overwhelmed with the support we received from far and wide, and in particular from the farming community, who fuelled our initial success.”
