February 1, 2021

photo credit: Kubota

By Lynda Kiernan, Global AgInvesting Media

Tel-Aviv-based Tevel Aerobotics Technologies has raised $20 million through a Series B backed by Asian equipment giants Kubota and Forbon, and including Maverick Ventures Israel, OurCrowd, and AgFunder, as well as Ziv Aviram, co-founder of self-driving car startup Mobileye. 

This round (the company’s third) brings the startup’s total funding to-date to $33.9 million, which includes a grant totaling $2.5 million issued by the Israeli Innovation Authority, and which gives the company a valuation of $45 million.

Founded in 2017, and led by founder and CEO Yaniv Maor, and chairman Eyal Desheh, Tevel develops autonomous flying robots that employ AI, computer vision, advanced robotics, aeronautical engineering, and flight control data through its FAR (Flying Autonomous Robots) platform.

Tevel’s network of interconnected drone robots are linked to a self-driving vehicle that also acts as the source of power. The robots use their AI capabilities to identify fruit types, level of ripeness, size, and condition. Using a one meter-long arm, the drones are able to pick fruit, or carry out thinning or pruning tasks across orchards.

Not only has COVID-19 laid bare the weak points in the logistics of our food supply chains, but also in how much the entire system relies on steady farm labor. Disparate safety protocols and  the inability to recruit migrant farmworkers are just two factors negatively affecting the agricultural sector’s ability to maintain the necessary number of field workers, who incidentally, tested positive for COVID-19 at a higher rate than any other working category, except for “health care and social assistance” workers, according to data from the Washington State Department of Health. 

But even before the pandemic, the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) noted that over the past 20 years the number of field workers available to work in orchards declined by half, while orchard fruit production doubled over the same time period. 

Each year the world’s fruit growers spend $100 million on harvesting, with 10 million seasonal workers sourced to pick the fruit. These workers, however, are more scarce with every season, leaving an industry that produces 800 million tons of fruit from 70 million hectares, valued at $1 trillion, in a precarious position.

Tevel is hoping that its flying fruit harvesting robots will provide a solution, creating a means of on-demand harvesting that can fill an unmet and ongoing challenge for producers. The company’s smart phone app also gives farmers updates and data including volume of fruit harvested and estimated time until harvest is completed.

Despite a number of challenges, commercial rollout of Tevel’s technology is expected to occur this year, with the ability to harvest a range of fruit types, including apples, pears, or avocados with flexibility, high performance, and low cost.

“Unlike land-based robots that pick fruit using an arm or similar means, a drone can access fruit at height or behind branches and other obstacles, offering excellent maneuverability for efficient harvesting without ever missing any fruit,” said Kubota in a company statement. 

For Kubota, this investment will help position the company as a leader in equipment and technological solutions for the world’s farmers.

“Through further innovation, we will continue contributing to the world in the fields of food, water, and the environment, looking ahead to the post-Covid-19 society,” said Yuichi Kitao, chairman and representative director, Kubota Corporation.

“With our investment in Tevel, we partnered with one of the most advanced technology companies in fruit picking,” added Peter van der Vlugt, general manager of Kubota’s Innovation Center, Europe.”Kubota is committed to help solve fruit growers’ problems in providing security for harvesting timing and quality and to deal with the increasing labour issues that growers are facing nowadays.”

– Lynda Kiernan is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, and HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She is also a contributor to the GAI Gazette. She can be reached at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.