Away from the urban buzz of self-driving cars, the landscape of farms and fields is beginning to harvest the innovation and investment needed to drive the shift to autonomous machines and tractors in agriculture.
Agreenculture, a French-based startup specialising in the autonomy and safety of agricultural machinery and tractors, has raised €6M in a Series A equity round from deeptech venture capital firm Supernova Invest, Netherlands-based Future Food Fund, and Unilis Agtech (Unigrains Group).
Alongside this funding, Agreenculture has also secured a credit facility from Crédit Agricole Toulouse 31.
The capital injection will enable the company to enhance, standardise, and industrialise its products for rapid integration, while strengthening its commercial deployment.
This growth will reinforce Agreenculture’s ability to support the likes of tractor manufacturers (OEMs) in deploying safe and reliable autonomous machines, so broadening access across multiple markets.
The business case is built on simplicity, safety and savings, says Christophe Aubé, CEO of Agreenculture:
“Our ambition for every manufacturer is to provide a simple and safe autonomy kit capable of working without local supervision in the field. Providing tangible performance gains and generating cost and time savings for farmers.”
Skilled labour shortages
Facing skilled labour shortages, farm and land management require safe automation solutions leveraging task management operations and improving profitability. Agreenculture offers OEMs a plug-and-play AGC Autonomy Kit designed to ensure precision, autonomy, and safety of machines and tractors.
A virtual safety barrier called SaFencing lets machines operate independently, without local supervision. This allows farmers to trust performance, benefit from longer operating hours, and monitor tasks remotely.
Fundamentally, new tech needs to make farm life easier, says Clément Baron, CTO of Agreenculture:
“We want manufacturers to focus on their core business. We bring them a reliable, interoperable, ready-to-use product and to accelerate the deployment of autonomy in the fields. These solutions help farmers through saving time, increasing operational efficiency and productivity, while protecting operators’ health.
Conventional to regenerative
There are multiple potential benefits to autonomy for farmers: Soil compaction can be reduced by replacing big machines with multiple small ones; fuel consumption can be minimised; cover cropping becomes more affordable; and application of fertiliser and pesticides becomes even more precise.
Farming is changing, for the better, suggests Jeroen Kimmels, Managing Partner at Future Food Fund:
“Autonomous tractors and machines should not be seen simply as a way to relieve farmers of the burden of driving, but as a unique opportunity to change the way farming is done. We regard the management of Agreenculture as visionaries, spearheading this shift from conventional to regenerative farming.“
Certified and ready-to-integrate
Agreenculture is the first technology supplier to offer a safe and certifiable Autonomy Kit. As well as secure geofencing, the Kit utilises the S-RTK positioning system and is fully compliant with European regulations. This makes it easily integrated by machinery manufacturers for off-road autonomous navigation.
The tech is set to become market standard in Europe, says Romain Sautrau, Partner at Supernova Invest:
“Agreenculture stands at the forefront of autonomous farming technologies. Their certified, safety-first approach is a decisive advantage for manufacturers seeking reliable automation solutions.”
Collaboration with manufacturers
Collaboration is key for the Agreenculture business model. The startup works with a range of world-renowned agricultural manufacturers, including: Pellenc with the RX20 vineyard crawler; Kubota with the M7 tractor for field crops and KFAST sprayer for orchards; plus Kuhn with the Karl field robot; as well as cutting-edge companies like Fieldworkers and Trabotyx with their autonomous laser weeding robot TOR.
These partnerships demonstrate how Agreenculture helps OEMs accelerate the market launch of their certified autonomous machines. This enabling role in the wider agriculture ecosystem helps make the startup an attractive prospect for investors, explains Jean-François Hurel, Director of Unilis Agtech:
“As a farmer-backed investor focused on innovations for field crops, we support technologies that enable producers to spend more time on higher-value agronomic decisions and market opportunities — while safely and reliably automating repetitive tasks when it makes sense. Beyond responding to labour constraints, Agreenculture contributes to the productive and sustainable transition of agricultural operations.”
VCs, tech and the agri value chain
Founded in 2016 and based in Toulouse, France, Agreenculture supports agricultural machinery manufacturers by providing them with both technological solutions and consulting services, enabling their machines and tractors to become autonomous and certified, capable of operating without local supervision.
Supernova Invest is the leading deeptech venture capital firm in Europe, managing €800M in assets. Its portfolio includes more than 80 innovative impact-driven companies leveraging breakthrough technologies in four transition-centric sectors: Cleantech, Digital, Industrial Technologies, and Healthcare. The firm is backed both by Amundi, the largest asset manager in Europe, and innovative public research organisation CEA.
Future Food Fund is a Netherlands-based venture capital firm investing in Seed and Series A companies across Western Europe that are revolutionising the food and agriculture value chain. By targeting innovative startups, Future Food Fund aims to address critical sustainability challenges, including greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, and water demand, fostering a sustainable future within planetary boundaries. Future Food Fund benefits from support from the European Union under the InvestEU Fund.
By investing capital in agtech entrepreneurs, Unilis Agtech represents the commitment of French farmers to bringing together the expertise and know-how of Unigrains, Arvalis – Institut du vegetal, and their partners to accelerate the productive and sustainable transition of agricultural operations.
Further Reading:
- More about innovative startup Agreenculture; and its AGC Autonomy Kit;
- More about funders: Supernova Invest; Future Food Fund; and Unilis Agtech (Unigrains Group);
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