Yamaha & Kubota Further Invest In Advanced Farm Technologies, Developer Of Robotic Strawberry Harvester

---

Advanced Farm Technologies recently raised $25 million in a Series B investment funding round that included investments from Series A investors Yamaha and Kubota. The startup is the developer of the automated TX Strawberry Harvester shown here. (Photo courtesy of Yamaha.)

In 2019, startup company Advanced Farm Technologies (AFT) became the first U.S. company to bring fresh fruit to market by way of commercialized robotic strawberry harvesting based on its T-6 platform. The company recently exited a Series B funding round with an additional $25 million that will advance its automated strawberry harvesting efforts and adapt its technology to apple harvesting.

Funding included investments from Series A investors Kubota and Yamaha. Yamaha notes the investments will allow both companies to apply technologies that quicken technological development and business expansion targeting the implementation of automated farming solutions for ground and tree crops.

Automated Picking

AFT’s Advanced Farm TX Robotic Strawberry Harvester incorporates multiple robots using computer vision and machine learning technologies to traverse fields and perform autonomous fruit harvesting 24 hours a day. The harvester can work alongside manual crews while automatically sensing and picking ripe strawberries via food-gripper technology. AFT says the machine’s early market success shows it’s a viable solution for the strawberry and apple industries, where labor supply challenges are persistent.

“With this latest investment round, the company can scale its team and robotic technology, with an eye toward expanding market share and adapting its technology for new crops, to deliver on the promise of automated harvesting for 21st century farming,” says Rouz Jazayeri, managing partner of Catapult Ventures, which led the Series B funding round.

---

Ongoing investments from Yamaha and Kubota in Advanced Farm Technologies will allow them to further their development of automated farming solutions. (Photo courtesy of Yamaha.)

Investing Wisely

Yamaha says with its investment, it will look to gain a foothold in corporate venture capital activities through the Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley division it created in 2015. Kubota, meanwhile, created an Innovation Center in 2019 to support open innovation initiatives through partnerships with external organizations. Those efforts enable Kubota to further its knowledge concerning advanced agritech and advance its business models, leading to faster development of its solution business.

“Working together with external partners, both companies will advance open innovation for proactive engagement with advanced technologies in the broad agricultural field and will work for the purpose of accelerating the creation of new businesses, products, and services to address various global social issues,” Yamaha says.

Find The Right Specialty Crop Equipment

You’ll find a large variety of new and used specialty crop equipment for sale every day on SpecialtyCropEQ.com, including Kubota machines.

Source: Yamaha