The agriculture industry is being revolutionised by automation and robotics. Modern agriculture is facing many problems that are not resolved by traditional farming methods. Finally, farmers have started adopting automation and robotics to resolve these issues. With the implementation of new technologies in the agricultural industry, it has been possible to make agriculture more efficient, sustainable, productive and profitable.
When it comes to agricultural robotics, it is of various forms such as drones, equipment and more. These are used for smart farming, monitoring of livestock and more. The use of such technology helps small scale farmers who do not have access to smartphones to monitor the progress too.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at 10 promising agritech startups in Europe that use robots to disrupt the agriculture industry.
LettUs Grow (Bristol)
Founders: Ben Crowther, Charlie Guy, Jack Farmer
Funding: €1.3 million
LettUs Grow founded in 2015 has invented a patent-pending aeroponic technology to grow herbs and shrubs with more than 70% higher growth rate than existing methods. This technology suspends plant roots in a nutrient-rich mist instead of soil ensuring more consistent, faster and predictable results. It reduces water usage by 95% as compared to open-field farming. Also, the technology reduces carbon footprint and uses no chemicals and pesticides.
BoMill (Sweden)
Founders: Bo Löfqvist
Funding: €3.7 million
In 2001, BoMill sells quality sorting technology throughout Europe, Australia and North America. It uses its own agents and distributors for the purpose. This company was founded to improve food safety by removing mycotoxins including fusarium from grains. It also improves food security by sorting based on vitreousness or protein content. The company aims to be the world’s leading provider for grain quality sorting.
Naïo Technologies (France)
Founders: Aymeric Barthes, Gaëtan Séverac
Funding: €5.9 million
Naïo Technologies develops and markets agricultural power tools, viticoles and robots since 2011 to help farmers weed and harvest with confidence. The robots are designed to assist farmers in their everyday tasks and lighten their workload. These also optimise the profitability of farms and limit the environmental impact. This agritech startup aims to democratise the use of latest technologies.
Faromatics (Spain)
Founders: Daniel Rosés, Heiner Lehr, Johan Van den Bossche, Jörg Hartung, Maurice Mergeay
Funding: €630k
Faromatics founded in 2016 brings high tech to livestock production. It company monitors livestock continuously and operates with the aim to detect their needs quickly. By satisfying these needs, the company will help farmers become more productive and competitive. The ChickenBoy developed by Faromatics is the world’s first roof-suspended robot observing chickens and litter autonomously 24/7.
Sabi Agri (France)
President: Alexandre Prévault
Funding: €1.8 million
Sabi Agri is involved in the designing and manufacturing of electric tractors. Founded in 2017, this company serves many agricultural projects including field crops vine-growing, livestock farming and market gardening.
EcoRobotix (Switzerland)
Founders: Aurelien G. Demaurex, Steve Tanner
Funding: €11.8 million
Ecorobotix is in operation since 2011. It has created a smart weeding solution, which is an autonomous machine that efficiently detects and destroys weeds that grow among crops. As its name suggests, this solution is harnessing solar energy and can work for 12 hours. Also, it can be controlled via a smartphone. This robotic solution helps farmers product affordable and healthy food.
VitiBot (France)
Founders: Cedric Bache
Funding: €3 million
France is famous for many things including wine. And, VitiBot founded in 2015 has developed a solar-powered robot called Bakus to maintain vineyards. This robot can work for up to 10 hours without recharging. And, it can perform all groundwork and tasks that are usually carried out in vineyards.
Avular (Netherlands)
Founders: Ramon Haken, Albert Maas, Gerbert van de Ven
Funding: €2 million
Started in 2014, Avular is building a modular drone platform called Aerial Curiosity, which lets you easily connect new sensors and programs. This platform comprises two key components – a module platform and a software later. With the modular platform, it is possible to assemble the drone quickly for multiple use cases. And, the software layer shortens the development time.
BioCarbon Engineering (United Kingdom)
Founders: Irina Fedorenko, Lauren Fletcher, Martin Tengler, Matthew Ritchie, Susan Graham
Funding: €2.3 million
BioCarbon Engineering operates with the ambition to plan a total of 500 billion trees by 2060 using drones. The drone technology used by this company can survey the environment and disperse seeds at a high-speed across massive areas. Founded in 2014, the company’s drone technology is touted to be 10 times more effective than traditional hand-planting. It is claimed to be able to plan nearly 10,000 trees in one day.
QualySense (Switzerland)
Founders: Francesco Dell’Endice, Olga Mykhailova, Paolo D’Alcini
Funding: €30.4 million
Founded in 2009, QualySense has pioneered high-speed single kernel technologies. It has developed Qsorter, a life science single kernel robot for sorting grains, beans and seeds at high-speed and accuracy. It’s state-of-the-art and proprietary technology is a result of the collaboration between QualySense and leading academic institutions including the Swiss Breeding Research Institute (AGROSCOPE), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and EMPA, the Swiss Research Institute for Material Research.
Stock photo from kung_tom/Shutterstock
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