Led · Seed · Jul 2026

Quercus Biosolutions leverages generative AI tools adapted from drug discovery to design novel mini proteins that bind validated biological targets in weeds. Unlike traditional approaches that screen naturally occurring proteins, the company designs proteins from scratch to potentially overcome mechanisms of resistance to conventional small-molecule herbicides. It currently runs five active programs and has multiple field trials underway. The company plans to expand its herbicide pipeline and pursue regulatory work to advance at least one product toward late-stage development. Quercus is also exploring broader applications of its platform against fungi, insects and other agricultural pests. The recent $5 million seed raise will fund these development and regulatory efforts.

Participated · Series A · Jun 2026

SWARM Engineering builds operational AI that combines domain-trained intelligent agents and optimization algorithms to deliver verified, auditable decisions for supply chain, workforce, and logistics in agrifood and manufacturing. Its platform is built on an operational ontology for these industries, ingests real-time data, preserves institutional knowledge, and runs scenario simulations across thousands of variables in minutes. SWARM says customers compress planning cycles, simulate hundreds of logistics and supply scenarios quickly, and gain cross-functional visibility not provided by legacy planning tools. The company serves leading global brands across the U.S., Latin America, and Europe and has been recognized by AgTech Breakthrough in 2024 and 2025. Leadership includes veterans from Microsoft, Palantir, Google, and UiPath, and the company recently added Jason Trusley of Land O'Lakes to its advisory board. Post-financing plans include expanding use cases, scaling go-to-market efforts, and deepening ERP and supply-chain integrations.

Participated · Series A · Aug 2025

FloVision Solutions builds AI-powered yield and quality analytics for protein production using compact sensors attached to conveyor belts and workstations to scan each product in real time. Its system detects defects, misgrades, and foreign materials, triggers on-the-spot sorting or rejection, and consolidates data into a centralized dashboard for supervisors. Since launching in 2020, FloVision has processed over 23.2 million kilograms (51.1 million pounds) of food in leading plants; customers have reported yield improvements up to 1.5% and returns on investment up to 15x. The company operates with a hybrid team across the U.S. and Europe. The $8.7M Series A will fund expansion across North America, Europe, Australia, South America, and Asia and accelerate hiring in software, hardware, AI/ML engineering, and sales. FloVision focuses on reducing waste and improving labor performance through real-time analytics and automation to enable faster, data-driven production decisions.

Participated · Series A · Jan 2025

Bonsai Robotics builds vision-based physical AI solutions for orchard and specialty-crop agriculture, with a flagship product called Visionsteer™ that offers data insights, crop analysis, job planning, notifications and autonomous vehicle control. The company’s technology is designed to operate in GNSS-denied environments and without cellular or internet connectivity, addressing harsh field conditions like dust, darkness, debris and vibration. Bonsai has deployed over 40 integrated autonomous units across the U.S. and Australia and has collected data from operations on more than 500,000 acres. The new funding will be used to enhance its vision-based autonomous software, expand its physical AI platform and dataset, grow OEM partnerships, and accelerate commercialization. Bonsai positions its approach as addressing labor shortages, rising grower costs, climate change and food-security challenges in specialty agriculture. Bonsai Robotics, based in San Jose, CA, provides computer vision-based robotic automation solutions for harsh, off-road environments such as agriculture. Its systems integrate with OEM equipment to enable autonomy and can operate without GPS in adverse conditions including dust, debris and vibration. Led by CEO Tyler Niday, the company works with OEMs including OMC and Flory Industries and with California growers who report significant efficiency gains amid a severe labor shortage. The company raised $13.5M in Seed funding and plans to use the proceeds to accelerate its product roadmap and invest in hiring and sales and marketing. Its product focus is on ruggedizing autonomy for environments where traditional GPS-reliant approaches fail.

Participated · Equity · Nov 2024

EarthOptics leverages advances in soil-sensing technologies, genomics, and data science to deliver predictive insights into chemical, physical, and biological soil properties. It combines lab-based analysis with field-based sensors to give farmers and ranchers actionable recommendations to optimize spending and unlock sustainable farming opportunities. The company completed a strategic merger with Pattern Ag, combining EarthOptics’ proprietary field-based sensing technologies with Pattern Ag’s lab-based analysis to offer comprehensive soil data. Led by CEO Lars Dyrud, EarthOptics operates offices in Raleigh, North Carolina; Emeryville, California; Arlington and Blacksburg, Virginia; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Fayetteville, Arkansas, and maintains two laboratories in Emeryville and Memphis, Tennessee. The company intends to use new funding to accelerate technological innovation, broaden its geographic reach, and consolidate its position as an authoritative source for soil insights. EarthOptics develops next-generation soil-sensing technologies that combine ground-based sensors, satellites, physical soil samples, machine learning models, and agronomic expertise to deliver detailed soil measurements. The company's platform provides insights to help farmers optimize fertilizer applications, inform tillage decisions, and quantify carbon sequestration. EarthOptics plans to use its latest funding to expand access to its tools and deliver hyper-accurate soil insights. Founded in 2018 and based in Arlington, VA, the company serves growers and ranchers seeking data-driven land-management decisions. The company is led by CEO Lars Dyrud. The article reports a recent financing that will support its growth and product expansion efforts. EarthOptics has developed an imaging suite that uses ground-penetrating radar and electromagnetic induction to produce deep maps of soil physical and chemical composition. Its commercial products, GroundOwl and C-Mapper (C for carbon), reconcile no-contact sensor data with traditional lab samples via machine learning trained on tens of thousands of ground-truth measurements. The hardware can be mounted on ordinary tractors or trucks and pulls readings every few feet, reducing physical sampling from hundreds of samples to dozens. The company’s outputs can be used to create meter-scale treatment maps or to feed variable-depth robotic field machinery such as smart tillers. Management positions the product as a cheaper, faster, and more precise alternative to traditional soil sampling and as foundational data for automated and robotic farming. Financially, EarthOptics raised a $10.3M A round to scale its two existing products and to develop a moisture-mapping product.