Agricultural and construction equipment manufacturer John Deere agreed yesterday to purchase Blue River Technology, a US-based agriculture technology developer backed by agrochemical company Monsanto, for $305m.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of September.
Founded in 2011, Blue River produces robotic systems that integrate computer vision and machine learning technology to detect and monitor each individual plant in a crop and apply herbicides and fertilisers only when needed.
Blue River’s 60 staff will remain in their current location in Sunnyvale, with John Deere hoping to bolster the company’s continued growth.
Blue River previously obtained $17m in a series B round in late 2015 that included Monsanto Growth Ventures and Syngenta Ventures, the respective investment subsidiaries of Monsanto and agribusiness Syngenta.
The series B round was led by growth equity fund Pontifax Global Food and Agriculture Technology Fund and also featured Data Collective, Khosla Ventures and Innovation Endeavors.
The company had earlier closed a $13.1m series A round in 2014. Khosla, Ulu Ventures, Stanford Angels and Entrepreneurs and private investor Steve Blank invested an initial $3.1m tranche in 2012 before Data Collective led a $10m extension with participation from Innovation Endeavors and Khosla.
John May, president of agricultural solutions and chief information officer at Deere, said: “We welcome the opportunity to work with a Blue River Technology team that is highly skilled and intensely dedicated to rapidly advancing the implementation of machine learning in agriculture.
“As a leader in precision agriculture, John Deere recognizes the importance of technology to our customers. Machine learning is an important capability for Deere’s future.”