The Visionsteer vision-based navigation software works with equipment from multiple OEMs. Source: Bonsai Robotics
“Physical AI,” the combination of robotics and artificial intelligence, is getting traction in a number of industries, including agriculture. Bonsai Robotics Inc. last week said it has raised $15 million in Series A funding. The company said it planned to use the financing to enhance its software capabilities, expand its platform and data set, add OEM partnerships, and accelerate commercialization efforts.
“We have made significant progress building our AI model and data set for autonomous orchard management since our seed round of funding a year ago, so this additional funding is strong validation of the incredible work our team has accomplished and our future growth prospects,” stated Tyler Niday, co-founder and CEO of Bonsai Robotics. “Additionally, this capital will allow us to continue to expand our partnerships with manufacturers and growers by delivering innovative physical AI technology solutions that address the most pressing challenges in agriculture today.”
San Jose, Calif.-based Bonsai Robotics Inc. claimed that it is taking an “AI-first approach” to autonomous systems for farming in harsh environments. The company said its patented AI models, orchard data set, and computer vision software integrate with OEM equipment for autonomous operations.
Visionsteer applies AI in orchards, says Bonsai
Bonsai Robotics asserted that its “first-principle perspective for agriculture applications” addresses some of the industry’s most urgent challenges including climate change, food security, labor shortages and rising grower costs.
It said its flagship Visionsteer product can navigate in GNSS-denied locations, without a cellular or Internet connection. This technology is affordable and suitable for environments with dust, darkness, debris, elevation changes, and vibration, said Bonsai
Visionsteer is designed to meet grower needs, offering data insights, crop analysis, notifications, job planning, and autonomous vehicle control, the company added. It has partnered with multiple equipment manufacturers and has deployed over 40 units for tree nut orchard applications both in the U.S. and Australia.
In addition, Bonsai said it has collected data from operations on over 500,000 acres (202,342 hectares). The company said its physical AI is helping a variety of orchard growers reduce operating and capital equipment costs, increase yields, and gain previously unavailable insights.
Bison Ventures leads round
Bison Ventures led Bonsai Robotics’ oversubscribed round with participation from new investor, Cibus Capital. Existing investors Acre Venture Partners, Congruent Ventures, Fall Line Capital, E14 Fund, SNR and Serra Ventures also participated.
“Bonsai represents exactly what we look for at Bison — founders who combine deep technical expertise with industry knowledge to solve critical challenges,” said Tom Biegala, founding partner at Bison. “Their vision-based approach to agricultural automation has the potential to transform how specialty crops are grown, addressing the urgent labor and efficiency challenges facing growers while building toward a more sustainable future for agriculture.”
Bison Ventures said it invests in early-stage technology companies addressing some of the world’s most pressing challenges, such as climate change, treating disease, and meeting insatiable global demand for compute. The venture capital firm noted that its founders all have engineering backgrounds.
“The team believes the most attractive investment opportunities exist at the intersection of multiple technical disciplines and are often ignored by the mainstream venture capital community,” it said.
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