Mushroom-picking robot company in Salmon Arm raises a cool $40M in funding

4AG Robotics just keeps on winning.

The Salmon Arm-based maker of AI-inspired mushroom-picking robots announced today it raised $40M in its latest round of fundraising.

This follows $17.5 million raised in 2023 and $4 million in provincial and federal grants earlier this year.

"This funding helps us leap from a startup providing our product works to a scale-up manufacturer trying to keep pace with demand," said 4AG CEO Sean O'Connor.

"In just two and a half years, we've gone from asking farms to trial our technology to having deposits for over 40 additional robots. As one of the first companies to fully automate the human hand in produce harvesting, we're ushering in a new era for mushroom farming."

It's quite the coup for Salmon Arm as well.

The town has a population of 20,000 and all of a sudden it's an AI and robotics hotspot, attracting 78 experts from all over BC and the world to work at facilities in Salmon Arm to develop, manufacture and commercialize the mushroom pickers.

Using robots cuts the cost of production in mushroom facilities in half and boosts yields by 15%.

4AG-made robots are already at work at mushroom farms in Abbotsford and Aldergrove in BC, elsewhere in Canada, Ireland and Australia.

Robots will be coming soon to Holland and the US.

In fact, 4AG has enough orders to keep it busy through February next year with more orders coming in rapidly.

That's why the $40 million is needed to fuel this phenomenal growth.

With the money 4AG is buying parts to build more robots, hire more field service and customer service staff, expand headquarters in Salmon Arm and further develop robot functions with AI to do more mushroom packaging, detect disease and further increase crop yields.

The 4AG robot is a mechanical arm and hand on a movable system that trims, picks and packs mushrooms using suction grippers in indoor mushroom farms that grow the crop on racks.

Artificial intelligence powered computers control the operation and there's a human overseer.

Otherwise, the trimming, harvesting and packing of mushrooms is fully automated.

The $40 million in investments comes from several different sources.

Astanor Ventures is a new partner for 4AG.

"4AG could be at the forefront of the transformation of agriculture through AI and robotics," said Astanor partner Harry Briggs.

Cibus Capital from England also kicked in money to support 4AG's expansion into Europe and beyond.

"Mushroom farming presents an enormous opportunity to utilize robotics and AI to drive labour optimization together with higher yields and improved quality," said Cibus investment director Archie Burgess.

"The impressive 4AG team has already developed a fleet of robots that pick up to one million mushrooms per week. We look forward to supporting them in accelerating this trajectory."

There's also additional money raised from new investor Voyager Capital and more cash from existing investors Stray Dog Capital, InBC, Emmertech, BDC Industrial Innovation Fund and Jim Richardson Family Office.

Mushroom farming is ideal for AI, automation and robotics because mushrooms grow quickly and there's harvesting 24/7/365.

4AG's so-called 'plug-and-play' robots can come into this environment and improve things quickly and dramatically without having to reconfigure existing growing racks and operations.

"We're not just building robots. We're building a new operating system for the mushroom industry," said 4AG vice-president of growth Michelle Lim.

"Growers want tech that works out of the box, delivers return on investment in under three years and scales globally. That's what we've built."