By Gerelyn Terzo, Global AgInvesting Media
Let us take you down to Strawberry Fields, where agtech innovation is making chemical-free farming forever real. TRIC Robotics, a San Luis Obispo, California-based agtech startup, has raised $5.5 million in seed funding to expand its fleet of automated robots that help growers protect strawberries without chemicals. Led by Version One Ventures, the round reportedly extended to a wide syndicate of backers, including Garage Capital, Lucas Venture Group, Todd and Rahul Capital and Valor Equity Partners, among others.
Founded by founded by Dr. Adam Stager and Vishnu Somasundaram out of the University of Delaware and now rooted in California’s Central Coast, TRIC Robotics is tackling a problem that has challenged farmers for decades: how to manage pests and disease in specialty crops without heavily relying on synthetic pesticides.
TRIC is behind a large-scale farming robot called Luna that uses UV light to eliminate pests and disease, offsetting the need for chemical pesticides. Its first target is strawberries, a specialty crop that consumes more chemicals than its peers and lends itself to high profit margins. Automation makes it possible to go where manual methods can’t handle by deploying a robot down a strawberry row to apply UV treatment autonomously. By reducing chemical use and opening the path toward organic certification, TRIC’s approach increases sustainability and unlocks the potential for higher farmer revenues.
The technology has so far been deployed across more than 1,000 acres. The company says its approach is more effective, reliable and environmentally friendly than conventional methods, while also reducing risks to farm workers and consumers.
Version One Ventures shared their investment thesis for backing TRIC Robotics, noting, “While the high price tag of the robot first gave me pause, I now see it as a competitive advantage, creating a much higher barrier of entry to others. And the robot’s large size? It enables broader, more effective crop treatment and positions the team to target large-scale farmers—a far more scalable path than chasing small customers one by one. Plus, the larger size opens up future opportunities such as bug vacuuming, weeding, and analysis.”
The new funding will catapult TRIC’s plans to scale its automated fleet, expand into more farms in untapped growing regions and further develop its platform for use across other specialty crops. Beyond pest control, TRIC sees its robotics technology as a gateway to broader farm automation, layering in capabilities for tasks like weeding, data collection and crop monitoring, all of which are ripe for efficiency gains in the labor-intensive agriculture industry.
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