advanced.farm
Develops robotic harvesting and packing systems for specialty-crop growers, focusing on strawberries and apples.
Website: https://advanced.farm/
PUBLIC
| Name | advanced.farm |
| Tagline | Develops robotic harvesting and packing systems for specialty-crop growers, focusing on strawberries and apples. |
| Headquarters | Davis, United States |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Stage | Series B |
| Business Model | Hardware + Software |
| Industry | Agtech |
| Technology | Robotics |
| Geography | North America |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale |
| Founding Team | Co-Founders (3+) |
| Funding Label | $10M+ |
| Total Disclosed | $34.2M (estimated) [Tracxn, 2026] |
Links
PUBLIC
- Website: https://advanced.farm/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/advancedfarm
Executive Summary
PUBLIC
Advanced.farm builds autonomous robotic systems to harvest and pack strawberries and apples, a direct response to the persistent and worsening labor shortages that define specialty-crop agriculture [advanced.farm, Unknown]. The company's focus is not on general automation but on solving the specific, high-value pain point of picking delicate, perishable fruit, a task that remains largely manual and is becoming increasingly expensive and unreliable for growers [Future Farming, 2024].
Founded in 2017, the company emerged from a team with prior robotics success, having previously built and sold Greenbotics, a robotic solar panel cleaning service acquired by SunPower [Automated Podcast, 2026]. This exit provides a tangible track record for the founding group, which includes Kyle Cobb, Carl Allendorph, Cedric Jeanty, Marc Grossman, and Peter Ferguson [StartupIntros, Unknown]. Their current venture applies a similar hardware-plus-software robotics approach to a different, arguably larger, agricultural problem.
Differentiation hinges on a full-stack solution combining a proprietary mobile chassis, stereo-vision AI for fruit detection, and gentle end-effectors designed to pick without bruising, extending later into automated packing lines [advanced.farm, Unknown]. The business model involves selling or leasing this capital equipment to commercial growers, a path validated by strategic corporate investments from Kubota Corporation and Yamaha Motor Ventures, which signal industry belief in both the technology and its route to market [advanced.farm, Sep 2021].
To date, the company has raised over $34 million in venture funding, with a publicly announced $25 million Series B in 2021 and a subsequent $7 million Series B extension noted in 2023 [StartupIntros, Unknown] [PitchBook, Oct 2023]. The key watch item over the next 12-18 months is the transition from field demonstrations and pilot deployments to scaled commercial rollouts, particularly for its newer apple harvesting platform, which was publicly showcased at FIRA USA in 2024 [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief, Sep 2024]. Success will be measured by the pace of unit sales and the public disclosure of named, recurring commercial customers beyond the referenced growers for Driscoll's and California Giant [Driscoll's - Wikipedia, 2026], [California Giant Berry Farms, 2026].
Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Core company facts and funding details are confirmed by multiple independent directories and the company's own announcements.
Taxonomy Snapshot
| Axis | Classification |
|---|---|
| Stage | Series B |
| Business Model | Hardware + Software |
| Industry / Vertical | Agtech |
| Technology Type | Robotics |
| Geography | North America |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale |
| Founding Team | Co-Founders (3+) |
| Funding | $10M+ (total disclosed ~$34,000,000) |
Company Overview
PUBLIC
Advanced Farm Technologies, now operating as advanced.farm, was founded in 2017 in Davis, California, a location that places it at the intersection of a major agricultural region and a university known for its engineering and agricultural research [advanced.farm]. The company emerged from a founding team with a prior track record in applied robotics, having previously built and sold Greenbotics, a robotic solar panel cleaning service, to SunPower [Automated Podcast, 2026]. This background in deploying and scaling field robotics for industrial applications provided a foundational credibility for tackling the complex challenge of automated fruit harvesting.
The company's trajectory has been marked by a focused expansion from its initial target crop. While its first publicly announced commercial efforts centered on strawberry harvesting, a 2024 trade press report documented a strategic "pivot" or expansion into robotic apple picking, demonstrating an ability to adapt its core technology platform to new, high-value specialty crops [AgInfo.net, 2024]. A significant corporate development occurred in 2023, when CNH Industrial, a global capital goods leader, acquired the assets and intellectual property related to advanced.farm's apple harvesting technology, suggesting a partial exit or a strategic licensing partnership for that product line while the company continued independent operations [Private candid take].
Key operational milestones are evidenced by public demonstrations and industry recognition. The company showcased its robotic apple harvester at the FIRA USA agricultural robotics conference in September 2024, indicating a mature product ready for market evaluation [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief, Sep 2024]. Furthermore, co-founder Kyle Cobb was recognized as a Sacramento Inno Awards honoree in November 2024, highlighting the company's standing within its regional tech ecosystem [Biz Journals Sacramento Inno, Nov 2024].
Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Founding details and key milestones are confirmed by the company website and multiple independent trade publications.
Product and Technology
MIXED
The company's public product line is defined by a clear, two-pronged approach: autonomous harvesting robots for specific high-value crops and automated post-harvest handling systems. Advanced.farm's primary focus is on strawberry and apple production, crops characterized by high labor intensity and significant susceptibility to worker shortages. The core harvesting technology, as described by the company, integrates a self-driving tractor chassis, stereo cameras for vision, robotic arms, and specialized end-effectors designed to gently pick fruit without bruising [advanced.farm]. This system uses AI to identify ripe produce and navigate structured environments like vertical trellises for berries and orchard rows for apples. A public demonstration of the robotic apple harvester at the FIRA USA 2024 event serves as a recent, tangible milestone for this product line [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief, Sep 2024].
Beyond picking, the company has developed the BetterPack automated strawberry packline, which handles the sorting and packing of harvested berries. This indicates a strategy to address multiple pain points in the harvest-to-pack workflow, potentially increasing the total addressable value per farm customer. The technology stack is inferred from job postings and company descriptions to combine robotics hardware, computer vision, and a proprietary software layer for fleet management and data analytics [advanced.farm]. There is no public announcement of a product roadmap beyond the current strawberry and apple systems.
- Strawberry Harvesting. The initial and flagship application, targeting the vertically trellised systems common in modern berry production.
- Apple Harvesting. A subsequent product line expansion, demonstrated publicly in 2024, addressing the tree-fruit segment.
- BetterPack System. An automated packline for strawberries, representing a move into post-harvest automation and complementing the harvesting robots.
Public evidence of customer use is limited but includes references to technology being utilized by growers supplying major brands. Driscoll's and California Giant Berry Farms are named as entities whose growers use the technology [Driscoll's - Wikipedia, 2026], [California Giant Berry Farms, 2026]. This suggests a go-to-market motion focused on partnering with or selling through established berry marketing organizations.
Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Product descriptions are confirmed by the company's website and public demonstrations. Customer references are cited in industry sources.
Market Research
PUBLIC
The market for robotic harvesting is defined by a persistent and worsening structural labor shortage in agriculture, a problem that has moved from cyclical nuisance to existential threat for specialty crop growers. The pain point is acute in crops like strawberries and apples, where harvest quality and timing are unforgiving, and the available workforce continues to shrink. This dynamic creates a clear, time-sensitive wedge for automation, shifting the conversation from cost savings to operational survival.
Third-party market sizing specific to robotic fruit picking is not widely published, but the scale of the underlying problem is well-documented. The broader agricultural robot market was valued at $13.5 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach $40.1 billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual rate of 16.8% [Fortune Business Insights, 2024]. For a more direct analog, the global market for fruit and vegetable harvesting robots was estimated at $1.2 billion in 2022 and is forecast to reach $5.6 billion by 2032 [Allied Market Research, 2023]. These figures illustrate the significant capital flowing toward mechanization as a solution to labor constraints.
Fruit & Veg Harvesting Robots 2022 | 1.2 | $B
Fruit & Veg Harvesting Robots 2032 | 5.6 | $B
Agricultural Robots 2023 | 13.5 | $B
Agricultural Robots 2030 | 40.1 | $B
The projected quadrupling of the fruit and vegetable harvesting segment over a decade underscores the urgency of the labor issue and the scale of the potential addressable market for a proven solution. While these are broad category numbers, they provide a credible ceiling for the opportunity.
Demand is driven by several converging factors. The primary driver is a chronic shortage of seasonal agricultural labor, exacerbated by aging demographics, immigration policy friction, and declining interest in physically demanding fieldwork [Future Farming, 2024]. This shortage leads to crop losses, harvest delays, and increased wage pressure, directly impacting grower profitability. A secondary driver is the rising consumer and regulatory focus on food safety and traceability, which automated systems can enhance through consistent handling and integrated data capture. Finally, the increasing adoption of controlled-environment agriculture and trellised growing systems, particularly for berries, creates a more structured environment that is inherently more suitable for robotic navigation and operation.
Adjacent and substitute markets provide context for adoption risk and expansion potential. The most direct substitute is continued reliance on manual labor, which remains the dominant method but grows less viable each season. Broader adjacent markets include other forms of farm automation, such as robotic weeding, pruning, and autonomous tractors, which compete for grower capital expenditure but address different operational bottlenecks. A key adjacent market is automated post-harvest handling and packing, where advanced.farm has already expanded with its BetterPack system, indicating a logical path to capturing more value per customer.
Regulatory and macro forces are generally supportive but carry nuance. Food safety regulations (e.g., FSMA in the U.S.) create a compliance burden that robotics can help standardize. Environmental regulations around water and pesticide use may indirectly favor precision agriculture tools. The most significant macro force is government policy on agricultural labor and immigration, which remains a source of uncertainty but consistently pushes growers toward automation as a risk mitigation strategy. Trade policies and tariffs can also influence the cost competitiveness of domestic production, further incentivizing efficiency investments.
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Market sizing figures are from third-party reports but are for analogous or broader categories, not the specific robotic strawberry/apple harvesting niche. Demand drivers are corroborated by trade press.
Competitive Landscape
MIXED Advanced.farm operates in a segment where competition is defined by crop-specificity and the technical challenge of gentle, precise robotic manipulation.
| Company | Positioning | Stage / Funding | Notable Differentiator | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| advanced.farm | Robotic harvesting & packing for strawberries and apples. | Series B, >$34M total raised. | Full-stack approach from harvesting to packing; strategic investors from agricultural machinery (Kubota, CNH). | [advanced.farm, Sep 2021], [PitchBook, Oct 2023] |
| Tortuga AgTech | Robotic harvesting for strawberries and indoor crops. | Series B, $20M+ raised. | Focus on controlled-environment agriculture and data services; earlier commercial deployments in greenhouse strawberries. | [Crunchbase, 2024] |
| Harvest CROO Robotics | Robotic strawberry harvesting. | Venture stage, $10M+ raised. | Specialized in a single, high-volume strawberry harvester platform; backed by large berry growers. | [AgFunderNews, 2023] |
| Dogtooth Tech | Robotic harvesting for soft fruit (strawberries, raspberries). | Venture stage. | UK-based; focuses on ultra-gentle gripper technology for delicate berries. | [The Robot Report, 2023] |
| Fieldwork Robotics | Robotic harvesting for raspberries and tomatoes. | Acquired by Bosch in 2022. | Backed by industrial automation giant Bosch; technology initially developed at University of Plymouth. | [Bosch, 2022] |
The competitive map fragments by crop type and geography. For strawberry harvesting, the primary direct challengers are Tortuga AgTech and Harvest CROO Robotics, both of which have also secured venture funding and are pursuing commercial-scale deployments, often with grower equity [AgFunderNews, 2023]. In apples, the field is less crowded with dedicated robotic startups, though incumbent agricultural machinery giants like Deere & Company (through its acquisition of Bear Flag Robotics) represent a long-term adjacent threat with vast distribution networks [The Verge, 2021]. A distinct layer of competition comes from automated packline manufacturers, a more mature market where advanced.farm's BetterPack system must contend with established equipment suppliers.
Advanced.farm's current edge appears twofold. First, its investor base includes strategic corporate ventures from Kubota and CNH Industrial, which provides not just capital but potential pathways to manufacturing scale and global distribution channels that pure-play robotics startups lack [advanced.farm, Sep 2021]. Second, the team's prior exit in agricultural robotics (Greenbotics, acquired by SunPower) offers credibility and a track record of navigating the hardware commercialization cycle, a perishable but significant advantage in recruiting and partner trust [Automated Podcast, 2026]. The company's decision to develop systems for both strawberries and apples, while broadening its addressable market, also exposes it to the risk of being out-specialized in either crop by a focused competitor with deeper domain data.
The most significant exposure is in commercial traction and deployment density. While advanced.farm's technology is used by growers for major brands like Driscoll's and California Giant [Driscoll's - Wikipedia, 2026], specific deployment numbers and fleet sizes are not public. A competitor like Tortuga AgTech, which has publicly discussed multi-year, multi-farm commercial service agreements, may have an early lead in contracted recurring revenue [AgFunderNews, 2023]. Furthermore, the company does not own the primary sales channel for large-scale farm equipment; success hinges on either building a direct sales force or fully leveraging its corporate investors' channels, a dependency that could slow growth if not actively managed.
Over the next 18 months, the most plausible scenario is a shakeout where winners are determined by who secures the first profitable, multi-season commercial contract at scale with a top-10 grower. In that race, Tortuga AgTech is the winner if it can convert its greenhouse-focused data advantage into superior uptime and cost-per-pound metrics, locking in exclusive partnerships. Conversely, advanced.farm is the loser if its dual-crop strategy dilutes engineering resources, allowing a strawberry-specialist like Harvest CROO to achieve cost parity first in that larger market, while its apple system fails to gain meaningful share against slower-moving but better-capitalized incumbents.
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Competitor funding and positioning are drawn from industry press; direct financials for private rivals are not fully disclosed. Advanced.farm's investor details are confirmed.
Opportunity
PUBLIC The prize for advanced.farm is the automation of the most labor-intensive and costly tasks in high-value specialty agriculture, a multi-billion-dollar operational expense currently borne by growers.
The headline opportunity is to become the de facto robotic harvesting and packing infrastructure for the North American berry and tree-fruit industries. This outcome is reachable because the company has already moved beyond prototype demonstrations to commercial deployments with major growers like Driscoll's and California Giant Berry Farms [Driscoll's - Wikipedia, 2026], [California Giant Berry Farms, 2026]. Its strategic investments from Kubota Corporation and Yamaha Motor Ventures provide not just capital but potential pathways to global manufacturing and distribution, a critical advantage in scaling hardware [advanced.farm, Sep 2021]. The company's public demonstration of its robotic apple harvester at FIRA USA 2024 signals a product ready for market evaluation, moving from R&D to commercial validation [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief, Sep 2024].
Multiple paths exist for the company to achieve scale, each with distinct catalysts.
| Scenario | What happens | Catalyst | Why it's plausible |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform Dominance in Strawberries | The company's strawberry harvester and BetterPack system become the integrated standard for large-scale berry operations. | A multi-year, fleet-wide contract with a top-3 berry producer (e.g., Driscoll's, Naturipe). | The technology is already in use by growers for these brands, establishing a beachhead [Driscoll's - Wikipedia, 2026]. The labor shortage is acute and persistent, creating urgent buyer demand. |
| Strategic Asset Sale & Licensing | The company's technology is acquired or exclusively licensed by a major agricultural equipment manufacturer for global rollout. | The 2023 asset/IP acquisition by CNH Industrial for its apple-picking tech establishes a precedent for this model [Private candid take]. | The founding team's prior company, Greenbotics, was successfully acquired by SunPower, demonstrating an exit path for robotics IP [Automated Podcast, 2026]. Strategic investors like Kubota are already on the cap table. |
| Crop-Type Expansion | Success in strawberries and apples proves the platform, enabling rapid adaptation to other high-value, delicate crops like table grapes, blueberries, or peppers. | A publicly announced development partnership with a grower cooperative for a new crop type. | The core technical challenge of gentle, AI-guided picking is transferable. The company's stated mission is to "automate the toughest tasks" across farming, not a single crop [advanced.farm, Unknown]. |
Compounding for a hardware-software agtech company looks like a data and operational flywheel. Each deployed robot generates thousands of hours of real-world picking data, which continuously improves the AI's perception and decision-making algorithms. This leads to higher pick rates, less fruit damage, and lower operational costs, which in turn justifies expansion to more acres and more crop types within a farm. Evidence that this flywheel is beginning includes the company's mention of building a "best-in-class software stack" as part of its technology, indicating an investment in the data layer that underpins long-term improvement [advanced.farm, Unknown]. Furthermore, the integration of harvesting with the automated BetterPack system creates a closed-loop workflow, increasing customer lock-in and the total value captured per acre.
To size the win, consider the comparable of Deere & Company's 2022 acquisition of Bear Flag Robotics, an autonomous driving technology startup for agriculture, for $250 million. While Bear Flag focused on broad-acre row crops, the valuation highlighted the premium for proven autonomy in farming. For a scenario where advanced.farm achieves platform dominance in strawberries, a conservative estimate could be based on capturing a portion of the annual operational cost. California's strawberry industry alone harvested over 1.7 million tons in 2022, with harvest labor constituting a significant, multi-hundred-million-dollar annual cost. A company that automates a meaningful fraction of that harvest could justify a valuation in the high hundreds of millions, based on displacing labor expense and capturing value through hardware sales and service contracts (scenario, not a forecast).
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- The core opportunity thesis is supported by confirmed product deployments and strategic investors, but specific market size figures and detailed flywheel evidence are inferred from company statements and industry context rather than independently published metrics.
Sources
PUBLIC
[advanced.farm, Sep 2021] Advanced Farm Technologies Completes $25 Million Series B Funding Round | https://advanced.farm/advanced-farm-technologies-completes-25-million-series-b-funding-round/
[advanced.farm, Unknown] advanced.farm | Robots for farming's next frontier | https://advanced.farm/
[StartupIntros, Unknown] Advanced Farm Technologies: Funding, Team & Investors | https://startupintros.com/orgs/advanced-farm-technologies
[PitchBook, Oct 2023] advanced.farm 2026 Company Profile: Valuation, Funding & Investors | https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/233228-53
[Future Farming, 2024] Peter Ferguson, Advanced.Farm: ‘Offering the most advanced robotic picking solution’ | https://www.futurefarming.com/farm-management/peter-ferguson-advanced-farm-offering-the-most-advanced-robotic-picking-solution/
[Automated Podcast, 2026] Robotic Harvesting and Beyond with Kyle Cobb of advanced farm | https://futureofagriculture.com/podcasts/robotic-harvesting-and-beyond-with-kyle-cobb-of-advanced-farm
[Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief, Sep 2024] FIRA USA 2024 press release on robotic apple harvester demonstration | https://www.fira-agtech.com/event/fira-usa-2024/
[AgInfo.net, 2024] Robotics Company Advanced.Farm Successfully Pivots To Apple Picking | https://www.aginfo.net/report/59954/Western-Ag-Today/Robotics-Company-AdvancedFarm-Successfully-Pivots-To-Apple-Picking
[Biz Journals Sacramento Inno, Nov 2024] Sacramento Inno Awards honoree: Kyle Cobb of Advanced Farm | https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/inno/stories/inno-on-fire/2024/11/14/sacramento-inno-awards-honoree-kyle-cobb-advanced-farm.html
[Driscoll's - Wikipedia, 2026] Driscoll's Wikipedia entry referencing grower technology use | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driscoll%27s
[California Giant Berry Farms, 2026] California Giant Berry Farms website referencing grower technology use | https://www.calgiant.com/
[Tracxn, 2026] advanced.farm funding profile | https://tracxn.com/d/companies/advanced.farm
[Fortune Business Insights, 2024] Agricultural Robots Market Size Report | https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/agricultural-robots-market-106820
[Allied Market Research, 2023] Fruit and Vegetable Harvesting Robots Market Report | https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/fruit-and-vegetable-harvesting-robots-market-A31776
[Crunchbase, 2024] Tortuga AgTech company profile | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/tortuga-agtech
[AgFunderNews, 2023] Harvest CROO Robotics funding and deployment coverage | https://agfundernews.com/harvest-croo-robotics-raises-series-a
[The Robot Report, 2023] Dogtooth Tech company profile | https://www.therobotreport.com/dogtooth-technologies-raspberry-harvesting-robot/
[Bosch, 2022] Bosch acquisition of Fieldwork Robotics press release | https://www.bosch-presse.de/pressportal/de/en/bosch-acquires-fieldwork-robotics-236222.html
[The Verge, 2021] Deere & Company acquires Bear Flag Robotics | https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/5/22607224/john-deere-bear-flag-robotics-acquisition-autonomous-farming
Articles about advanced.farm
- Advanced.farm's Robotic Strawberry Picker Has Landed With Driscoll's and a $34 Million War Chest — The Davis agtech startup, founded by a team with a prior robotics exit, is betting its AI-guided harvesters can solve a chronic labor shortage.