SwarmFarm Robotics raises $12m to develop and grow its autonomous ag-bot business

A Queensland farming couple have received a $12m cash injection to build their robotic fleet that is revolutionising agriculture.

Jocie and Andrew Bate operate SwarmFarm from their Central Queensland property.

An agricultural robot pioneer has secured a multimillion-dollar cash injection led by an offshore fund to develop the full potential of its autonomous driverless technology.

SwarmFarm Robotics has raised $12m through a Series A funding round led by Emmertech, an AgTech fund from Canadian-based Conexus Venture Capital.

The money will be used to grow its Integrated Autonomy business through its SwarmBot platform and breakthrough operating system network, SwarmConnect, which enables developers to create an array of innovative applications for users of the autonomous platform.

Co-founder and chief executive Andrew Bate said there was enormous demand for autonomous robots in agriculture, but most solutions only unlock minimal potential.

“The current equipment providers believe that farmers just want to be plucked from the cab or replaced by robotic arms. We believe that farmers want more,” he said.

“They want a technology ecosystem built to address the issues in their locality, a farm-centric system that leaves the lowest possible footprint on their fields, helping them do more with less. They want Integrated Autonomy, so that’s what we’re building.”

Andrew and Jocie Bate with a SwarmFarm robot. Picture: John Elliot

The latest Series A funding also attracted new investment from Tribe Global Ventures and Access Capital. Also joining the round were existing investors, including Tenacious Ventures, and GrainInnovate, the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) venture capital fund managed by Artesian.

SwarmFarm’s last capital raising was in 2020, when it raised $4.5m.

Based in Gindie, near Emerald in central Queensland, the start-up was established in 2015 as a bootstrap operation by Mr Bate and his wife Jocie, who also run a family a crop and beef farm.

SwarmFarm’s leased autonomous ag-bots have so far covered 526,000 commercial hectares, 64,000 hours of operation, and have reduced pesticide inputs by an estimated 780 tons in Australia.

There are currently 45 in the field and Mr Bate said the new capital raising should help put about 150 ag-bots to work in the next 12 months. They are manufactured in Emerald. Mr Bate said they currently had 24 staff in Queensland and NSW and were seeking another 15.

A SwarmFarm ag-bot in operation.

“There’s a genuine revolution and that’s really happening now and vision in agriculture is to fundamentally change farming methods and the way farmers produce food,” he said. “So we need the smartest minds from around the world working on this. We need an army of developers solving agriculture’s problems one app at a time.”

Emmertech managing directors Sean O’Connor said the key that drove their eagerness to lead this capital raising round was the farmer-centric approach of the SwarmFarm team and the “truly exceptional results” their robots have achieved.

“We met with several farmers who were putting upwards of 3000 hours a year on their SwarmBot, often leaving them out in the fields for over 24 hours at a time. We believe there’s a future where SwarmBots can be found on farms across North America and worldwide,” he said.

Originally published as SwarmFarm Robotics raises $12m to develop and grow its autonomous ag-bot business