Agtonomy will expand its ag autonomy software and services business thanks to an $18 million Series B round the California-based company just closed.
VC firm DBL Partners led the round with participation from asset manager Nuveen and existing investors Autotech, Allison Transmission, Rethink Food, and Black Forest Ventures.
In addition to being a software developer that partners with commercial equipment manufacturers, Agtonomy is also bringing what it calls “physical AI” to agriculture.
Tim Bucher, the company’s cofounder and CEO, says this is “the next frontier of automation: artificial intelligence directly embedded into machines and autonomous fleets that operate in the real world.”
“In agriculture, this means our AI-driven systems live inside tractors and implements, enabling them to perceive their surroundings, understand complex field conditions, and complete tasks,” he tells AgFunderNews.
The Agtonomy platform combines GPS guidance, computer vision, fleet intelligence, and “purpose-built software architecture” to do this.
“By integrating AI with farm equipment growers trust, we are helping to address major issues in a way that’s practical and scalable on every farm,” says Bucher.
The company will use the new capital to scale its platform across commercial deployments and OEM integrations in agriculture and adjacent industries.
Fertile ground for autonomous fleets
Thanks to the Series B funding, Agtonomy is also expanding the geographical reach of its platform, including recent moves to the US Southeast and Australia.
“Australia and the Southeast US excel in specialty crop production and face mounting challenges around labor shortages and operational efficiency—issues that our Physical AI platform is perfectly suited to address,” says Bucher.
He notes that Australian growers, in particular, deal with complex, demanding field conditions and are therefore rapid adopters of technologies.
“In fact, growers in Australia have been reaching out for some time, asking specifically for Agtonomy,” he says.
“These regions are fertile ground for proving that autonomous fleets can deliver immediate, field-tested value—not just in the lab, but on actual farms where every season matters.”
Farm robotics and automation in 2025
Agtonomy joins a number of other ag robotics and automation companies—SwarmFarm Robotics, TRIC Robotics, and Rootwave among them—that have raised funding this year.
That said, the ag robotics category still trails behind other agrifoodtech categories when it comes to VC funding so far for 2025. Investment to the category dropped 36% from $168 million in Q2 to $108 million in Q3.
Bucher says the sector’s biggest challenge right now is “moving beyond impressive prototypes and field demos to earning the trust of growers through practical, reliable solutions that actually fit into the grind of daily farm life.”
“Farming isn’t static; conditions change by the hour. Weather, labor, equipment, crops—everything’s unpredictable. If your automation can’t handle that, it won’t last past the first season, no matter how smart the software is.”
Too often, he adds, such technologies fail because they’re disconnected from the daily demands farmers face around the year.
Bucher himself is a farmer as well, growing grapes and olives through his Trattore Farms and Winery business in Sonoma County, California.
“At Agtonomy, our team is full of folks who are farmers first and engineers second. We’ve felt the squeeze of labor shortages, rising costs, and the grind of keeping operations running—so we know what it takes.
That’s why our automation is designed to slot right into real farm workflows, delivering the consistency, safety, and productivity growers need to make a lasting impact.”
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