Small Robot Company raises BIG

by Startacus Admin

We are delighted to report that Small Robot Company, a British agritech robotics startup for sustainable farming,has raised £1.2 million on Crowdcube equity crowdfunding. It reached its initial funding target of £500,000 within minutes of its launch thanks largely to support from the farming community.
The company’s hugely successful campaign received support from far and wide. Its biggest support came from the farming, technology and ‘eco’ communities. Investors included Matt Jones, Principle Designer at Google AI; Mark Ellingham, founder of the Rough Guides; and Andrew Ward, MBE, Farmers Weekly Farming Champion and Arable Farmer of the Year.
Farming as a service startup, Small Robot Company harnesses the power and precision of robots and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve the way that food is produced and minimise chemical usage. It will make farms more profitable, and increase yield and efficiency, through using small robots instead of tractors. Its farmbots Tom Dick and Harry will plant, feed and weed arable crops autonomously, with minimal waste.
Small Robot Company were worthy finalist at upSTART 17 at Digital DNA and based on the business and the top personality of one of the founders alone - Ben Scott-Robinson, we knew they would do far.
We also featured Small Robot Company on Startacus in May 2018, so it's fair to say we've been keeping our eyes and ears to the soily ground.
This now takes the total funding raised by the Small Robot Company to £2.5 million in total to date. This includes two awards from Innovate UK, £300,000 seed funding from farmers (including £90,000 in presales), £50,000 raised from Indiegogo crowdfunding, and a £50,000 Horizontal Innovation Award from the the Institute of Engineering and Technology.
“Anything that can help change for the better the way we produce food on this planet is urgently needed,” comments Matt Jones, Principal Designer, Google AI, fellow of the Small Robot and investor in Small Robot Company. “I’m excited to invest and support the Small Robot Company team in their mission to change farming for the better with humanscale AI and robotics.”
Small Robot Company’s prototype Tom monitoring robot is already developed and in field trials on 20 farms across the UK, including the Waitrose Leckford Estate farm and the National Trust Wimpole Estate. This prototype embodies all the core technology needed for Small Robot Company’s farmbot family. This includes autonomy, geolocation, obstacle avoidance, navigation and the ability to accurately position objects on a map within 2 centimetres.
An early version of Wilma (its AI 'nervous system' and brains of the operation) was also unveiled at the WIREDLive Innovationfestival in November. Wilma is the core of an intelligent, autonomous crop management system for arable farming. Following extensive field trials, and artificial intelligence training with partner Cosmonio over the last six months, Wilma can already distinguish Wheat plants from ‘Not-Wheat’, meaning any images of items that are not wheat plants.
Dick, its precision spraying and non-chemical weeding robot, will be developed through 2019. An early prototype for non-chemical weeding will be unveiled later in 2019, with micro-spraying and digital planting being developed for the end of 2019 and early 2020.
Small Robot Company will work in conjunction with its trial farmers to develop the technology from early proof of concept prototype to a more robust working model.
We've been featuring a good few agritech startups recently, so you might want to read up on:
Crover - technology to reduce grain storage losses
CropSafe want to make it easy to detect crop disease
FarmEye - The AgriTech startup that has agricultural traceability and sustainability at its very core.
Subscribe to our newsletter
If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.
Tech Nation calls for tangible support to secure capital, talent, growth and exits needed to accelerate the growth of UK tech in decade ahead.

Glasgow-based This is Milk seeks investment for Neve Learning, its cloud-based Ed-Tech platform that has inclusivity and accessibility at its core.

With the UK facing a clear digital skills gap, Amy Caton, Digital Talent and Impact Senior Manager at BT Group shares some insights on what businesses should do to close that divide.

The lowdown on Berlin-based Beazy and its innovative solution that helps teams to plan, produce and deliver creative content and helps businesses to connect with talented content creators.

The lowdown on Fluffy, the app offering dog training, 24/7 vet messaging and insurance to give pet owners peace of mind and support them with their pet care responsibilities.

Huckletree's new Web3 HQ aims to put London’s West End at the forefront of Britain’s tech superpower ambitions.

Leading sports marketing platform, OpenSponsorship announces move into music sector, the first new vertical industry for the trans-Atlantic martech business.

Kingussie High School scoops first place for Junior and Senior categories at this year’s Growing Future Assets Competition.

The lowdown on Manchester-based Arctic Shores and its innovative recruitment solution to help candidate potential count as much as skills and experience.

With the demand for tattoo removal now greater than ever, specialist NAAMA Studios makes a bid for a further £11m in funding.
Published on: 17th January 2019
If you would like to enable commenting via your Startacus account, please enable Disqus functionality in your Account Settings.







- Tech Nation report reveals UK Tech could quadruple in value by 2032 with right conditions 23rd Mar 2023 Tech Nation calls for tangible support to secure capital, talent, growth and exits needed to accelerate the growth of UK tech in decade ahead.
- Neurodiverse learning and training platform Neve shares major six-figure investment opportunity 22nd Mar 2023 Glasgow-based This is Milk seeks investment for Neve Learning, its cloud-based Ed-Tech platform that has inclusivity and accessibility at its core.
- Huckletree opens new London hub for tech companies pioneering Web3 solutions 16th Mar 2023 Huckletree's new Web3 HQ aims to put London’s West End at the forefront of Britain’s tech superpower ambitions.
- OpenSponsorship making its move into the music sector 16th Mar 2023 Leading sports marketing platform, OpenSponsorship announces move into music sector, the first new vertical industry for the trans-Atlantic martech business.