Aerobotics Raises $17M to Expand AI-Powered Agriculture Platform

With the world’s agricultural sector facing increasing pressure to satisfy a growing population and ensure food security amidst a changing climate, a South African company is leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to empower farmers in managing their operations, orchards, and harvests.

Aerobotics, a South African startup delivering innovative solutions to the global agricultural industry, has successfully secured $17 million in an oversubscribed Series B funding round.

According to Aerobotics, Naspers led this investment phase through its Naspers Foundry arm, contributing $5.6 million. Additional participation came from Cathay AfricInvest Innovation, FMO: Entrepreneurial Development Bank and Platform Investment Partners. 

Established in 2014 by James Paterson and Benji Meltzer, Aerobotics is presently concentrating on developing tools specifically for fruit and tree cultivation. By utilizing artificial intelligence, drone technology, and other robotic systems, the company’s solutions enable the monitoring and evaluation of crop health, including the detection of diseases, pest identification, and data analytics for improved yield optimization. 

The company’s advancements allow it to provide farmers with independent and dependable yield predictions and harvest timelines by gathering and analyzing imagery of both trees and fruit from citrus farms during the early stages of the growing season. This, in turn, allows farmers to effectively manage their resources, anticipate market demand, and guarantee the delivery of high-quality produce to their customers.

Aerobotics has demonstrated substantial growth in recent years. The company asserts that it possesses the largest exclusive dataset of trees and citrus fruit globally, having processed imagery from 81 million trees and over a million citrus fruits.

The seven-year-old startup is headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa. While many startups originating from the African continent have primarily focused on addressing local challenges, Aerobotics has achieved significant success with its services internationally. It maintains offices in the U.S., Australia, and Portugal — regions, like Africa, that are home to substantial global agricultural economies — and currently operates in 18 countries across Africa, the Americas, Europe, and Australia. 

The company stated that the Series B investment will be allocated to further development of its technology and expansion of product delivery, serving both the U.S. market and other regions. 

“We are dedicated to delivering intelligent tools that streamline automation, reduce input costs, and maximize production. We are excited to continue collaborating with industry leaders to co-develop our products,” stated Paterson, the CEO, in a press release.

Historically a technological pioneer, the agriculture industry experienced a period of stagnation in innovation. However, companies like Aerobotics, which champion climate-conscious agriculture and support farmers, are emerging to revitalize the sector. This progress has not gone unnoticed by investors, with investment flowing into the agritech space at an accelerating rate. 

Aerobotics initially raised $600,000 in seed funding from 4Di Capital and Savannah Fund in September 2017. Subsequently, the company secured an additional $4 million in Series A funding in February 2019, led by Nedbank Capital and Paper Plane Ventures.

Naspers Foundry, the leading investor in this Series B round, was established by Naspers in 2019 as a 1.4 billion rand (~$100 million) fund dedicated to supporting tech startups in South Africa. 

Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, CEO of Naspers South Africa, commented on the investment, “Ensuring food security is critically important in South Africa, and the Aerobotics platform makes a valuable contribution to achieving this goal. This type of technological innovation addresses significant societal challenges and aligns perfectly with the type of early-stage companies that Naspers Foundry seeks to support.”

In addition to Aerobotics, Naspers Foundry has also invested in SweepSouth, an online cleaning service, and Food Supply Network, a food service platform.