Nexus Robotics Raises $1.2 Million in Seed Financing for its Fully Autonomous Weeding Robot
Friday, October 23, 2020
Nexus Robotics, the Halifax start-up behind an autonomous weeding robot, today announced it has secured $1.2 million in investment from Ecofuel, Innovacorp, angels and the company's engineering partner, Inertia.
The funds will be used to pilot the company's technology and develop new applications such as identifying diseases and pests and collecting data about crop and growing conditions.
"This follow-on investment from Innovacorp and Ecofuel demonstrates they see the enormous market potential of our solution. We look forward to using this financing to accelerate the development of our product and business," said Luc Labbé, CEO of Nexus Robotics.
The company's product can navigate and remove weeds autonomously. It uses cameras and artificial intelligence to differentiate between weeds and crops. It removes weeds without damaging crops and can operate all day, every day.
The result is considerable operational efficiencies and reductions in the need for pesticides and physical labour, saving money and helping the environment.
Weeding is one of the biggest problems plaguing farmers worldwide, costing U.S. farmers alone about $1.5 billion each year.
"Nexus Robotics has a strong team with a promising solution for the agriculture industry. We're proud to co-invest with Innovacorp and others who want to help perfect the company's innovation and get it in the hands of farmers around the world," said Johanne Sévigny, managing partner of the Ecofuel Fund.
About Nexus Robotics
Co-founded in 2017 by Teric Greenan and Jad Tawil, Nexus Robotics develops autonomous robotic solutions for the agriculture sector using machine learning. The company's mission is to address three major problems in agriculture: labour, chemicals and climate change. In 2018, Nexus Robotics was awarded the top prize at the Weed and Feed agBOT robotics competition in Rockville, Indiana.
About Ecofuel
Ecofuel is a venture capital fund and an accelerator that offers specialized and personalized services for seed and early stage clean technology companies. The Ecofuel Fund, co-founded by Cycle Capital, has $40.6 million in assets under management and is sponsored by the following investors: Investissement Québec, acting as mandatory of the Government of Quebec, BDC Capital, the investment arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Fondaction, the Fonds de solidarité FTQ and the Centre québécois de valorisation des biotechnologies (CQVB).
About Innovacorp
Innovacorp is Nova Scotia's early stage venture capital organization. It works to find, fund and foster innovative Nova Scotia start-ups that strive to change the world. Risk capital is at the core of Innovacorp's business model. It also gives entrepreneurs access to world-class incubation facilities, expert advice and other support to help them accelerate their companies.
For more information, please contact:
Luc Labbé, CEO
Nexus Robotics
luc@nexusrobotics.ca
418.570.1196
October 23, 2020, Halifax, Nova Scotia