Charlie Wu Orchard Robotics is a trailblazing ag tech company founded by one of the industry’s bright lights Charlie Wu. Well, they’ve just completed an incredible $22 million Series A funding round! Quiet Capital and Shine Capital led a new infusion of funds to grow the company’s computer vision technology for specialty crops. General Catalyst and Contrary stepped in to support this fast-moving, exciting initiative.
Charlie Wu is a recent computer science graduate from Cornell University. Motivated by his family’s agricultural legacy, he developed the idea for Orchard Robotics. His grandparents were also apple farmers back in China. Their experiences inspired his passion to develop technology that addresses the problems today’s farmers face. Wu’s broader goal is to turn Orchard Robotics into a one-stop shop for data collection and analysis on farms.
The farming startup’s proprietary computer vision tech mounts directly to tractors and other farm vehicles. Under this system, the machine captures images to determine the quality and ripeness of fruits. Today, Orchard Robotics is deploying on many of the largest apple and grape farms in the United States. Earlier this year, the business rolled out its services to blueberry, cherry, almond, pistachio, citrus and strawberry producers.
Wu sees the big opportunity that the agriculture data market, which is already at $1.5b market, has. He expects new developments in artificial intelligence will allow Orchard Robotics’ machines to make their own decisions.
“Our ambition is to be a lot more than just collecting data,” – Charlie Wu
Wu’s vision for Orchard Robotics is very much the same as that of Flock Safety, a public safety startup now worth $7.5 billion. He hopes that as Orchard Robotics itself grows, it will likewise have a big impact on its industry.
As farmers themselves, the team behind Orchard Robotics knows that growers need better information in order to make the best decisions. Wu highlights the need to know the status of a crop to maximize efficiencies in crop production and farming activities.
“If you don’t know what you’re growing in the field, you don’t know how much chemical to apply to it. You don’t know how many workers to hire to harvest it. You don’t know what you can actually sell and market,” – Charlie Wu
Orchard Robotics have already hit the ground running. By employing machine learning and computer vision, the company aims to provide farmers with precise data about their crops, enabling informed decision-making.
Wu’s trip began at Cornell University. There, he further explored computer sciences and established relationships with some of the industry’s leading experts in agriculture.
“I got to meet fruit professors who are the best in the world at what they do,” – Charlie Wu
With this recent $20 million funding round, Orchard Robotics is primed to roll out its technology and grow its market presence. The company lives by the motto of providing farmers the most useful information possible so that they can make their operations and crops as productive as possible.