Orchard Robotics, a Startup Founded by a Cornell Dropout and Thiel Fellow, Raises $22M for Agricultural Vision AI.
Inspired by his grandparents’ apple cultivation in China, Charlie Wu envisioned merging technology with agriculture while studying computer science at Cornell University, a school celebrated for its agricultural programs.
“I was fortunate to interact with top fruit experts,” Wu told TechCrunch. “Discussions with them highlighted that even the largest farms in the nation basically lack visibility into what’s developing in their fields.”
He chose to leave Cornell to become a Thiel fellow and in 2022 launched Orchard Robotics, a startup aimed at using cameras and AI to support fruit farmers in better managing their crops.
On Wednesday, Orchard Robotics announced it has raised $22 million in Series A funding, led by Quiet Capital and Shine Capital, with additional investment from returning supporters like General Catalyst and Contrary.
Although using computer vision for specialty crops isn’t a new idea, Wu insists that most large U.S. farms still rely on manual sampling for crucial operational decisions.
Farmers often examine only a small portion of their crops, leading to highly inaccurate assessments of the quantity of healthy fruits in their vineyards or orchards.
“Without knowledge of what’s growing in the field, you can’t determine the right amount of chemicals to use, the number of workers needed for harvesting, or what you can realistically market,” Wu explained.
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Orchard’s compact camera can be mounted on tractors or agricultural machinery, capturing ultra-high-resolution images of fruit health as the operator drives through the fields. These images are then analyzed by AI for characteristics such as fruit size, color, and overall condition.
The data is uploaded to Orchard’s cloud-based platform, serving as a central repository for making decisions on aspects like additional fertilization, pruning, or thinning specific vines or trees.
Orchard’s technology is already in use on several of the nation’s largest apple and grape farms, and the startup has recently expanded its services to include blueberry, cherry, almond, pistachio, citrus, and strawberry growers.
The company encounters competition in the sector of tractor-mounted cameras using AI for specialty crop image analysis. Noteworthy rivals include Bloomfield Robotics, acquired last year by agricultural equipment manufacturer Kubota, along with emerging firms Vivid Robotics and Green Atlas.
Wu notes that the existing market for fruit and vegetable data is around $1.5 billion; however, he is optimistic that advancements in AI will enable technology to make autonomous decisions, expanding Orchard’s product range.
He envisions Orchard evolving similarly to Flock Safety, a startup in public safety currently valued at $7.5 billion, which has transformed over the past eight years from solely collecting license plate data to offering a suite of products, including gunshot detection and video surveillance.
“Our aim is to transcend being just a data collection service,” Wu affirmed. “We seek to gather data, create an operating system on top of it, and eventually manage all workflows within the farm, which could greatly enhance our market potential.”
