Agrochemical company Monsanto and agribusiness Syngenta were among the backers of a $17m series B round for US-based agriculture technology developer Blue River Technology on Wednesday.
Monsanto and Syngenta invested through their corporate venturing units, Monsanto Growth Ventures and Syngenta Ventures. The round was led by growth equity fund Pontifax Global Food and Agriculture Technology Fund and included Data Collective, Khosla Ventures and Innovation Endeavors
Founded in 2011, Blue River manufactures robotic systems that monitor and treat each individual plant, reducing the need for chemicals and fertilisers by up to 90%. It initially focused on lettuce fields but is in the process of expanding the technology to other crops.
The company will use the money to hire additional engineers and to further develop its product.
Blue River closed a $13.1m series A round in March 2014. Khosla, Ulu Ventures, Stanford Angels and Entrepreneurs, and angel investor Steve Blank provided the initial $3.1m tranche in 2012 before Data Collective led a $10m second close with participation from Innovation Endeavors and Khosla.
Jorge Heraud, co-founder and CEO of Blue River Technology, said: “By targeting herbicides to weeds and not bare soil or the crops we grow, we can drive a huge reduction in chemical use and increase environmental sustainability and health – while also improving yields and saving farmers money.
“With our new funding, we are looking to build our team with the industry’s most talented engineers and scientists to advance the boundaries of computer vision, machine learning and robotics in agriculture to solve one of the world’s largest problems – sustainable agriculture.”