A B.C. agritech company has raised big bucks to help bring its robotic mushroom harvesting technology to more global markets.
4AG Robotics Inc., a Salmon Arm–based firm, announced Tuesday it has raised $40 million in Series B funding.
The investment will help expand its manufacturing capacity and customer service teams to accelerate the platform's entry into more global markets, according to the company.
“This funding helps us leap from a start-up proving our product works to a scale-up manufacturer trying to keep pace with demand,” said Sean O'Connor, CEO of 4AG Robotics, in a statement.
“As one of the first companies to fully automate the human hand in produce harvesting, we're ushering in a new era for mushroom farming.”
4AG’s system uses AI-powered computer vision, precision suction grippers and advanced motion control to autonomously harvest, trim and pack mushrooms 24-7 without manual labour.
The robots are designed to be retrofitted into existing infrastructure and help growers achieve consistent quality, lower labour costs and access real-time operational data, according to the company.
"In just two and a half years, we've gone from asking farms to trial our technology to having deposits for over 40 additional robots," said O'Connor, adding that the platform is now in use in Canada, Ireland and Australia, and will soon be deployed in the Netherlands and the U.S.
With the new investment, the company said it plans to develop next-generation features such as punnet packing, disease detection, and AI-driven yield optimization.
The financing round was led by Astanor Ventures and Cibus Capital, with participation from new investor Voyager Capital and existing investors InBC, Emmertech, BDC Industrial Innovation Fund, Jim Richardson Family Office, Stray Dog Capital and Seraph Group.
The deal marks Astanor’s entry as a major partner to 4AG Robotics.
“We believe that, of all the agricultural sectors, mushrooms are the most poised for robotic solutions … 4AG could be at the forefront of the transformation of agriculture through AI and robotics,” said Harry Briggs, partner at Astanor Ventures, in a statement.
4AG previously raised $17.5 million in 2023.
