Indoor farming firm AppHarvest this week introduced that it has acquired Root AI. The deal is valued at round $60 million, with $10 million in money and the reminder coming from AppHarvest inventory.
Root AI is a Boston-based robotics startup, with a mission pretty in step with that of its future father or mother firm. We’ve coated the startup a handful of occasions, together with final August, when it introduced a $7.2 million seed spherical. Robotics, usually, have gotten a lift in the course of the pandemic, however agriculture and meals manufacturing have gotten particular seems to be, as organizations are in search of methods to automate their processes.
Together with the aforementioned seed, Root has raised a complete of $9.5 million so far, fueled by curiosity in its Virgo harvesting system. Founder and CEO Josh Lessing will step right into a CTO position at AppHarvest if the acquisition clears. The startup remains to be pretty lean, with 19 full-time workers.
In line with quotes from each events, robot-gathered knowledge for crop yields is a key a part of the acquisition.
“Farming as we’ve recognized it’s damaged due to the rising variety of variables comparable to excessive climate, droughts, hearth and contamination by animals that make our meals system unreliable,” AppHarvest founder and CEO Jonathan Webb mentioned in a launch tied to the information. Indoor farming solves for a lot of of these challenges, and the information gathered can exponentially ship extra insights that assist us predict and management crop high quality and yield.”