Iron Ox raises $20m for Robotic Greenhouse Technology
Iron Ox, a leader in robotics and AI-enabled farming with a mission to solve food insecurity, today announced the closing of $20 million in a Series B round.
Also announced today, the opening of their Gilroy, California farm, which is successfully delivering fresh produce throughout California to select restaurants and retailers such as local favourites Bianchinis and Whole Foods. In addition to these milestones, Iron Ox plans to expand nationally in 2021 to bring more fresh, clean and healthy food to customers outside of California.
Since 2015, Iron Ox has developed hybrid robotic greenhouses that dynamically support a range of produce offerings. With energy efficiency and flexible production at the core of their business, Iron Ox’s innovations have pushed traditional farm automation and optimization further providing customers with a one-stop-shop for fresh, clean and healthy food.
“We have made it our mission to address food security by developing autonomous greenhouses that grow a variety of local and consistently delicious food for everyone. Today, we’re thrilled to announce the successful operation of our Gilroy farm as well as our consumer brand, and our plans to complete additional sunlight-enabled, out-of-state facilities in 2021. As our growing network expands, so too will our partnerships and distribution channels, which will enable us to delight even more customers,” said Brandon Alexander, Iron Ox CEO & Co-founder.
Iron Ox brings perspective and experience from a passionate team of plant scientists, engineers, greenhouse operators and roboticists that are driven to address issues in food production and the supply chain: labour, food security, quality and access to healthy foods.
“Companies like Iron Ox show us what’s possible when a group of incredibly talented, cross-industry professionals are assembled to tackle a pressing global problem. Robotics and artificial intelligence can provide solutions to lower the cost of fresh, local produce while increasing its quality, cleanliness and availability to more communities. We’re excited to be part of Iron Ox’s journey in the years to come,” said Ryan Gembala, one of the lead investors for the round and Founder and Managing Partner at Pathbreaker Ventures.
The $20 million Series B round was led by a collection of Family Offices and Pathbreaker Ventures, who also led Iron Ox’s Pre-Seed round four years ago. Also participating were Crosslink Capital, Amplify Partners, ENIAC Ventures, R7 Partners, Tuesday Ventures, At One Ventures and Y Combinator. Since it was founded, Iron Ox has raised $45 million.
