The Venture Codex

Participated · Series B · Jul 2025

4AG Robotics develops a plug-and-play robotic harvesting platform that uses AI-powered computer vision, precision suction grippers, and advanced motion control to autonomously harvest, trim, and pack mushrooms 24/7. The system is designed to retrofit into existing Dutch-rack infrastructure, enabling consistent quality, reduced labour costs, and real-time operational data for growers. Its robots are already in use across Canada, Ireland, and Australia, with new deployments planned in the Netherlands and the United States, and the company says it is active across five countries. 4AG reports deposits for over 40 additional robots and a fleet that can pick up to 1 million mushrooms per week. Financially, the company closed a $40M CAD Series B that brings total capital raised to $57.5M over the past two years after a $17.5M round in 2023. The funding is earmarked to expand manufacturing in Salmon Arm, BC, grow field service and customer success teams, and accelerate development of next-gen features such as punnet packing, disease detection, and AI-driven yield optimization. 4AG Robotics has developed an autonomous robotic harvester that scans mushroom beds, picks mushrooms, trims stems and places produce into containers for retail. Its systems are entirely autonomous and built to operate consistently without human intervention for well over 24 hours. Robots currently target indoor farms growing common white and brown mushrooms, which O’Connor says account for roughly 90% of global production. The company has completed multiple pilots, harvesting more than 13,000 pounds of mushrooms that were sold in North America. 4AG says it is entering the commercialization stage with two secured orders valued at just under $1 million each (one in Canada and one in Europe). The new funding will support scaling manufacturing capacity and proving the company can scale a robotics business. While focused on mushrooms today, 4AG says it may work with other indoor crops over time as it seeks to become a global leader in indoor-agriculture harvesting solutions.

Led · Seed · Apr 2025

Sturdy.ai offers an autonomous, AI-powered Customer Intelligence platform that analyzes unstructured customer interactions—emails, calls, support tickets, chats and more—to surface revenue threats, pinpoint root causes, and deliver cross-functional insights in real time. The company reports it has analyzed billions of customer interactions, building a large proprietary dataset to improve its models and speed of insight. Sturdy plans to deepen its AI capabilities, expand integrations with customer data silos, and grow its go-to-market and engineering teams. The platform is positioned to provide proactive warning signals for churn and unlock revenue opportunities for enterprise customers. Sturdy was founded in 2020 and emphasizes an AI-native approach to retention and revenue protection. SturdyAI provides an AI-led customer intelligence and automation platform that helps companies unify and analyze customer feedback from email, tickets, chats, call transcripts, surveys, and more. Its system uses natural language processing and machine learning to surface business insights such as churn triggers, contract requests, feature requests, and service-quality issues. The platform creates just-in-time automations to route insights to the people, teams, and systems that need them to enable immediate action. SturdyAI targets B2B SaaS companies and other subscription-based businesses to improve customer relationships and retention. Led by CEO Steve Hazelton and based in Portland, OR, the company plans to use new funding to continue early growth, broaden market awareness, and strengthen its customer intelligence solution.

Participated · Series D · Oct 2024

Carbon Robotics develops AI-powered farming systems centered on its LaserWeeder, which combines computer vision, AI deep learning, robotics, and lasers to identify and eliminate weeds with millimeter accuracy. Its LaserWeeder has eliminated more than 10 billion weeds across over 100 crop types without chemical herbicides, hand labor, or soil disruption, and is in operation in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia. The company says the system cuts weed control costs by 80% and increases crop yield and quality. Carbon Robotics plans to use new funding to scale the LaserWeeder business, introduce new software and hardware products, and expand state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities in Eastern Washington. It also intends to grow in new markets and continue geographic expansion into Eastern and Southern Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. To date the company has raised $157 million in total funding. Carbon Robotics develops laser weeding robots for agriculture. Its flagship product, LaserWeeder, uses computer vision and artificial intelligence together with 30 high-power CO2 lasers to identify, locate, and remove weeds in real time. The company markets an automated, non-chemical approach to weed control. The reported financing from NVIDIA’s NVentures is intended to further advance R&D and the application of its AI agriculture solutions. The article does not provide revenue, user, or other operating metrics. No additional financial details or other investors were named in the report. Carbon Robotics develops AI and computer-vision-powered agricultural robots, best known for its LaserWeeder machine. The LaserWeeder uses thermal energy to eliminate weeds without damaging crops or disturbing soil. Demand and units shipped for LaserWeeder tripled in 2023 versus 2022. The company raised an additional $8 million to accelerate development of a new ag‑tech product line that it says is not related to LaserWeeder, but declined to share details. The Series C extension brings that round to $43 million and the company has raised $80 million in total. Founded in 2018 and based in Seattle, Carbon is led by Paul Mikesell, co-founder of Isilon Systems. Carbon Robotics is a Seattle-based agtech company that builds LaserWeeder, a laser weeding robot. Its machines use lasers to remove weeds; the company says it has zapped 500 million weeds across 40 different crops. Carbon is on track to deliver LaserWeeder to 17 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces in 2023. The company plans to use new funding to grow sales, accelerate manufacturing, and pursue international expansion. To date it has raised $67 million, including a $27 million Series B in 2021 and the new $30 million Series C. Investors from Sozo and Voyager are joining Carbon’s board as part of the latest round. Carbon Robotics develops autonomous field robots that use AI and high‑power lasers for precision weed control. Its flagship product, the Autonomous Weeder, eradicates weeds via thermal energy without disturbing soil, allowing reduced herbicide use and lower labor. The company reports bookings that exceed $20 million, has sold out its 2021 and 2022 models, and has begun accepting orders for 2023. Carbon Robotics plans to scale production, grow its engineering team, establish regional sales and customer support across the U.S., and invest in new products and technology. The company positions its technology as a response to herbicide‑resistant weeds and as a tool for organic and regenerative farming methods.

Led · Seed · May 2024

Averlon is a Redmond, Wa-based cloud security company that provides panoptic visibility and predictive intelligence to enterprise security teams. Led by CEO Sunil Gottumukkala, the company focuses on helping customers understand, predict, and prevent emerging cloud security threats. Its platform offers CISOs and security teams predictive attack intelligence, rapid remediation, and integrates with other security solutions. Customers use Averlon's attack chain analysis to narrow investigation scope and simplify impact determination, enabling quicker containment, eradication, and recovery from incidents. The company raised $8M in Seed funding (bringing total funding to $10.5M) and plans to use the proceeds to expand operations and advance development efforts. The Seed round signals continued investment in its product and go-to-market execution.

Participated · Seed · May 2024

Founded in 2022, Seattle-based Overland AI builds full-stack autonomous land systems designed to remove warfighters from harm by executing high-risk ground missions. Its flagship product, ULTRA, is an autonomous ground vehicle capable of navigating off-road, in GPS-denied environments, and without direct operator control. The company combines engineers from the self-driving industry with U.S. military veterans to ensure rigorous field testing and operational relevance. Overland AI’s technology spans autonomy software, perception sensors, control systems, and in-house manufacturing, enabling rapid scaling for military deployments. The newly secured capital will be directed toward meeting accelerating demand for ULTRA as armed forces integrate ground autonomy into active units. Although no revenue or user figures were disclosed, the company emphasizes speed and scale in fulfilling defense contracts and delivering multiple attritable vehicles with modular payloads.