Livermore, California: Monarch Tractor, the creator of the MK-V—the world’s first fully electric, driver-optional smart tractor—and the Wingspan Ag Intelligence (WingspanAI) farm management platform, announced a US$133 million Series C funding round on Monday. This makes it one of the largest fundraisings in agricultural robotics history.
Monarch has rapidly become a leader in the off-road electric vehicle (EV) and autonomous vehicle (AV) sectors within the agricultural space. To date, the company has raised over US$220 million to develop clean, efficient, and economically viable solutions, expanding into various agricultural markets such as vineyards, dairy, berries, orchards, and land management across 12 states in the United States and three countries. Over the past two years, Monarch has garnered national and international recognition, including accolades from Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startups, CNBC Disruptor 50, TIME Best Inventions, and Fast Company World’s Most Innovative Companies.
You may also like to read: AgriClimate Tech Iyris signs exclusive distribution agreement with Silal for UAE market
The Series C funds will support the further development of Monarch’s advanced AI product offerings, expansion of their operations domestically and globally, and drive the company towards profitability. This funding round was co-led by global impact investor Astanor and HH-CTBC Partnership, L.P., with additional support from prominent investors such as At One Ventures, PMV, and The Welvaartsfonds.
Monarch’s mission prioritises farmer success. The company believes that food security depends on planetary sustainability and farmer profitability. Hence, Monarch has been leading the transition to renewable energy-powered, more profitable farming ecosystems, ultimately empowering farmers worldwide.
Farm profitability has declined steadily over the past decade in the United States, with the steepest drop in industry history occurring in 2023. Still, in the early stages of technological adoption, the agricultural sector offers significant growth potential in automation, digital technologies, and AI efficiencies. Monarch is at the forefront of this technological advancement.
“Agriculture, driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and electrification, represents the next frontier in the energy transition and sustainability movement. As the most crucial yet overlooked sector, agriculture faces significant challenges, including declining profitability, labour shortages, worker safety issues, regulatory hurdles, data availability, and scrutiny over sustainability. Monarch’s AI-driven, smart electric platform will deliver substantial social, economic, and environmental benefits to farmers,” said Praveen Penmetsa, CEO and co-founder of Monarch Tractor.
You may also like to read: NABARD announces a ₹750 crore ‘Agri SURE’ fund for startups and rural enterprises
AI is revolutionising farm machinery. Tractors have been central to farm operations for decades but have been underutilised as hubs for robotics innovation and farmer profitability.
In December 2022, Monarch released the MK-V, the world’s first fully electric, driver-optional smart tractor, to tackle profitability challenges, meet sustainability demands, and revitalise agricultural innovation. Since then, over 400 MK-Vs have been deployed, offsetting more than 850 tonnes of CO2 emissions across 42,000 hours of tractor operations.
Monarch’s WingspanAI app gives farmers unprecedented access to on-farm data, integrating a farm management system, vehicle position tracking, crop image collection, and automated operations planning into a single platform.
This Monarch Tractor funding round will support 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.
