Monarch Tractor, one of the world’s first fully electric, driver-optional tractor manufacturers from USA, announced the successful completion of a US$61mn series b funding
The funding round was led by Astanor Ventures, a sustainable food venture firm, with additional individual and independent contributions from CNH Industrial, At One Ventures and Trimble Ventures. With this most recent round of financing, Monarch Tractor will be scaling its sales, service, manufacturing footprint, expanding its product offerings and launching international pilot test programs for regional market validation.
Praveen Penmetsa, co-founder and CEO, Monarch Tractor said, “Fruit and vegetable farmers have long been ignored in the electrification and automation movement, and that’s why the Monarch platform is built with them in mind. Due to the ever-increasing labour challenges, sustainability concerns, and food traceability and scrutiny issues farmers face, we have experienced great demand for the unique solutions Monarch Tractor offers.”
Monarch Tractor aims to unlock the potential for speciality crop farmers to achieve both their economic and sustainability goals. According to the company, this has led to growing interest from farmers and increased support from the investment community, allowing Monarch to scale production and expand manufacturing space in preparation to meet global demand. Additionally, it is said to provide Monarch with the ability to expand the company’s footprint globally into South America, Europe and Asia for international pilot testing programs.
Hendrik Van Asbroeck, partner at Astanor Ventures, said, “Monarch is transforming what is arguably the most important vehicle on the planet, tractors. Tractors emit 14x more than a car, and have not seen the same wave of digital innovation as we have seen in the automobile industry. Beyond delivering an affordable, clean and autonomous solution, Monarch‘s tractors capture detailed on-farm data to enable the sustainable and efficient farms of the future.”
According to Monarch, their tractor is the first to deliver a convergence of electrification, automation and data analysis that empowers sustainable farming, increases efficiency and safety and maximises profitability for farmers.
