Muddy Machines secures £1.5 million to develop next-generation crop harvesting robots

Muddy Machines, the agtech and robotics company that helps automate crop harvesting which was founded in 2020 by Christopher Chavasse and Florian Richter with a vision to sustainably solve labor issues in farming with robots, has announced a new round of seed funding of £1.5 million.

The company’s technology allows farmers to precision harvest crops such as asparagus. Its 'Sprout' robot can drive through fields harvesting accurately for up to 16 hours a day without the need for breaks and no decline in performance.

The new round of funding will be used to strengthen the company's engineering team and build capacity to cope with more widespread adoption of its technology. Specifically, the areas that the company will focus on include building a small herd of Sprout robots for the 2023 asparagus harvest season and generating initial revenues; continuing with the development of different crop harvesting capabilities; and planning production of the next generation of lightweight, battery-powered Sprout robots.

This latest round of funding was led by Regenerate Ventures, which specializes in investing in technologies that help farmers produce food with less impact on the environment.

It was supported with participation from Ponderosa Ventures, Jude Gomilla, Thrive/SVG Ventures, Science Angel Syndicate and others. “We were impressed by Muddy Machine’s vision and the speed of technical development,” commented Paul Rous, Managing Director at Regenerate Ventures. “This was a company founded in the middle of the first lockdown. Within two years they had a robot asparagus harvester built and commercially tested.”

“Fixing labor issues in farming is essential for ensuring a sustainable domestic food supply in developed countries and reducing food miles," added Evi Steyer, Managing Director at Ponderosa Ventures. "This business has shown it can come up with solutions and quickly.”

“Raising money for agtech and hardware businesses is a challenge at the best of times," noted Florian Richter, CEO & co-founder at Muddy Machines. "We are extremely proud to have secured this funding in the current investment climate. We are now focused on creating a meaningful amount of harvest capacity for our customers.

”A shortage of agricultural workers is creating a crisis for many farmers. In the UK, the House of Commons environment, Food & Rural Affairs Select Committee has warned that crops are being left to rot and that the country’s £100 billion farming industry is likely to shrink permanently because farms have been unable to hire all the seasonal workers they need. The number of vacancies is estimated to be 500,000 out of 4.1 million roles. Its recent paper on labor shortages in the food and farming sector called for more investment in technology to supplement labor.  “The situation is desperate,“ warned John Chinn of Cobrey Farms, the UK’s largest growers of asparagus. “It’s not about cutting costs of labor, but our inability to find it. We have a 12-week season and this technology is vital if we are to harvest the crop.”

Muddy Machines developed its Sprout robot through trials this year on Chinn’s land. “The Sprout machine is very impressive. It takes itself up and down the rows of asparagus and harvests it and puts it in a tray without causing any damage to the spears.”

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