NVIDIA invests in AI-powered weed zapping ag-tech startup Carbon Robotics

By Kurt Schlosser

Seattle ag-tech startup Carbon Robotics has a new investment from NVentures, the venture capital arm of NVIDIA, to fuel the company’s AI-powered farming solutions.

The amount of the funding was not disclosed. Carbon Robotics has raised $85 million to date.

Carbon Robotics makes a ″LaserWeeder″ which relies on artificial intelligence to detect and identify plants in fields and then target and eliminate weeds with lasers. The device relies on 24 NVIDIA graphics processing units, processing 4.7 million high-resolution images per hour.

Carbon Robotics’ LaserWeeder in action. (Carbon Robotics Photo)

The LaserWeeder can eradicate 5,000 weeds per minute and is touted as a way for farmers to reduce weed control costs by 80% while increasing crop yield and quality. The solution eliminates the need for traditional methods of chemical herbicides, hand labor, or soil cultivation.

″With this investment, and using the power of AI, we can help farmers create farms and food systems of the future that are more productive, efficient, healthy, and profitable,″ Carbon Robotics fouder and CEO Paul Mikesell said in a news release.

Mikesell founded the startup in 2018. He previously co-founded Isilon Systems and sold that company for $2.25 billion in 2010 and then spent time at Uber and Facebook.

Carbon Robotics is among a handful of startups in the Pacific Northwest using technology to meet the challenges of agriculture, including Aigen, FarmHQ, Pollen Systems, TerraClear and others.