Deploying autonomous agtech vehicles at scale requires much more than putting machines in the field, according to Monarch Tractor founder and CEO Praveen Penmetsa. Besides the autonomous tractors themselves, the company has to build up regional environments where machines can be sold and serviced, where growers can access spare parts and assistance, and where everyone involved gets adequate training to integrate the machines as smoothly as possible into farming operations. In other words, there’s a lot more to autonomy than autonomy.
That idea could easily be the credo behind the company’s latest fundraise, a recent record-breaking $133 million Series C Monarch says will help it expand its reach. Monarch released its fully electric, driver-optional tractor, dubbed the MK-V, at the end of 2022; the company has since deployed more than 400 machines. Its WingspanAI app acts as a control center for the vehicle, providing information around operations planning, remote fleet management, tractor performance reports, and maintenance diagnostics, to name a few.
Expansion is ‘more than a matter of selling tractors’
At a high level, the new funding round will help Monarch scale up production and increase sales of its tractors, says Penmetsa. Importantly, it will also enable Monarch to put in place the service and support infrastructure farmers need to realistically use Monarch’s all-electric driver-optional machines in their operations. “Autonomy is not just [something] that you buy, hit a button, and off it goes,” he explains. “Expanding into new countries, or even new states and regions, is more than a matter of selling a tractor to those areas. Widespread adoption will require support.”
That support means infrastructure that enables growers to use autonomous machines as easily as they would any other piece of farming equipment. Think ample charging stations, reliable connectivity and assistance using new digital features like row follow, which takes control of steering when a driver is present so that the person can focus on the implement at hand. Monarch is making this feature available to orchards and vineyards, which Penmetsa suggests is a big deal. “These kind of features have only been available to Big Ag in the Midwest so far.”
Monarch currently has seven dealer groups across 13 states supporting its tractors; funding will allow the company to build up infrastructure for training on the machines. “It’s a combination of people, but it’s also a combination of tools and partners,” he explains. “It’s also about the training infrastructure needed for [dealers] to service our tractor, repair our tractor, and continue to help our customers.”
From vineyards to dairy farms
The expansion also sees Monarch broaden its reach into other areas of agriculture besides orchards and vineyards. “Our fastest-growing market segment is dairy,” says Penmetsa. “Dairy farmers are using our tractor even more [than other farmers] and they’re getting an even larger benefit. Daily, dairy farmers are saving somewhere between $9 to $12 an hour that they use our tractor.”
For example, Ohio-based MVP Dairy, which houses roughly 4,500 cows, uses a Monarch machine to push feed for cows around a freestall barn. “Cows have to eat every day, we try to push up feed every hour, so our goal is 24 times a day,” MVP Dairy general manager Brock Peters said in a recent video. “Current usage of the tractor, if we take the last three months worth of usage and extrapolate that out for 12 months, the distance that we push up feed comes to about 7,900 miles, which is a trip coast to coast twice.” At that pace, MVP Dairy says it saves about $9,500 worth of fuel costs throughout the entire year.
“Both the market segments [dairy and orchards/vineyards] are getting value out of our tractor,” says Penmetsa. “Investors have started to see that Monarch tractor is not just a linear tractor or a specialty crop tractor. And we are continuing to unlock new market segments.”
Not just ‘another retrofit company’
Astanor, which led Monarch’s Series B raise, co-led this fundraising alongside HH-CTBC Partnership, L.P. At One Ventures, PMV, and The Welvaartsfonds also participated. Echoing what many companies say these days, fundraising for Monarch’s recent Series C round took longer than expected,” says Penmetsa. “But I’m glad to showcase the support that now allows us to go support the farmers, increase sales and also the service infrastructure that needs to be put in place.”
Besides helping the company to build out infrastructure and widen its reach across industries, funding will also enable Monarch to increase the number of US states where farmers can purchase the tractor, he adds. Monarch also has a small presence in Europe and New Zealand that is expected to grow in time. “We really have a competitive advantage [that is] translating into benefits for the farmers in terms of incentives from their buyers,”