Monarch Tractor, maker of the world’s first fully electric, driver-optional tractor, has announced the successful completion of a US$61m Series B funding round. This follows on from the US$20m it raised in Series A funding in March.
The latest funding round was led by Astanor Ventures, a leading sustainable food venture firm, with additional individual and independent contributions from CNH Industrial, At One Ventures and Trimble Ventures.
The California-based firm says the fundingwill help it scale its sales, service, and manufacturing footprint, as well as expand its product offerings, and launch international pilot test programmes for regional market validation.
“Fruit and vegetable farmers have long been ignored in the electrification and automation movement, and that’s why the Monarch platform is built with them in mind,” said Praveen Penmetsa, co-founder and chief executive of Monarch Tractor.
“Due to the ever-increasing labour challenges, sustainability concerns, and food traceability and scrutiny issues farmers face, we have experienced great demand for the unique solutions Monarch Tractor offers.”
Monarch Tractor provides the potential for specialty crop farmers to achieve both their economic and sustainability goals. This has led to growing interest from farmers and increased support from the investment community, allowing Monarch to scale production and expand manufacturing space in preparation to meet global demand.
Additionally, it provides Monarch with the ability to expand the company’s footprint globally into South America, Europe and Asia for international pilot testing programmes.
“Monarch is transforming what is arguably the most important vehicle on the planet, tractors,” said Hendrik Van Asbroeck, Partner at Astanor Ventures. “Beyond delivering an affordable, clean and autonomous solution, Monarch‘s tractors capture detailed on-farm data to enable the sustainable and efficient farms of the future.”
