Fieldwork Robotics raises £1.5M in funding for AI-supported harvesting robot
Summary
The commitment of \xa31.5 million comes from Elbow Beach Capital, with Frontier IP, a family office and other existing investors following on in this round.Fieldwork Robotics has developed a harvesting tool for berry farms. Covid-19, Brexit and the war in Ukraine are being blamed for the reduction in available seasonal labour.The University of Plymouth spin-out backed by Innovate UK and support from EIT Food has worked in collaboration with Bosch to create its autonomous raspberry harvesting robot, named Alpha. Alpha has been busy harvesting crops on farms in Portugal, where it can work 24 hours a day - the fruits it picks are currently being sold in UK supermarkets including M&S, Sainsburys and Waitrose.Elbow Beach Capital are a great strategic and cultural fit for us. Agriculture as it stands is not fit for purpose and we need innovative technologies to alleviate the unsustainable levels of waste and improve the economics for the farmer and end customers in the sector. We look forward to working closely with Fieldwork as they tackle this issue head on," says Jon Pollock, CEO of Elbow Beach Capital.