Burro has been on our radar since early 2020, when the company (then Augean) participated in a TechCrunch Robotics pitch-off. The Philly-based company has actually been around since 2017, but it’s really been the last few years that have seen their agtech offering take off.
These successes, of course, have coincided with the pandemic and subsequent labor difficulties that have accelerated much of the agricultural robotics space. Over the past four years, many startups have evolved from early pilots to real-world use.
For Donkey, which equates to 300 of its robotic systems currently operating in fields and nurseries, primarily in the US (along with select customers in Australia and New Zealand). In total, the startup says it has accumulated 300,000 hours in the field, with 75,000 miles driven autonomously through its commercial customers. This means really out there on real farms.
Image Credits: Donkey
Burro is also working to increase those numbers through a new round of fundraising. The company announced today that it has raised a healthy $24 million series round, led by Catalyst Investors and Translink Capital. Both companies will also bring their partners to Burro’s board of directors.
“We will primarily use this funding round for three things,” Burro CEO Charlie Andersen tells TechCrunch. “First, the scale. Scaling for us has two definitions. First, growing revenue faster than costs and two, enabling production/shipping and staying there (ie continuously producing, shipping, selling and being able to have our product used by customers). Second, we are expanding our product and engineering teams to build new products and capabilities to meet customer demand. Third, we’re also expanding our sales, go-to-market and customer success teams.”
This news also finds the company launching a new addition to its line of autonomous agricultural vehicles. The lovely name Burro Grande is – as the name suggests – a great new member of the family. This is capable of carrying payloads up to 1,500 pounds and towing other vehicles weighing up to 5,000 pounds.
The company says a larger version of the system was one of its most requested features. The Grande finds Burro moving into a segment dominated by John Deere, as the tractor giant has made several notable high-profile acquisitions.
“Simply put, Donkey Grande is older Donkey,” says Andersen. “Our core Donkey it is “Man Scale” (carries 500 lbs and tows up to 2000 lbs). This Donkey The Grande is “Pallet-scale,” meaning it can carry 1,500 pounds and tow 5,000 pounds. Donkey The Grande includes a lot of safety features, like 3D LIDAR and all Donkey The Grandes come with Donkey OS software v 5.0 that includes a Lidar-based SLAM algorithm that enables navigation with GPS denial.”
The Grande can be ordered from today. It’s set to start shipping later this quarter.
