UK-based RootWave has raised $15 million for its high-frequency electrical weed control technology.
Food and ag VC Clay Capital led the round with participation from Boerenbond Group investment arm Agri Investment Fund, agtech and wine tech VC Xinomavro Ventures, Caygan Capital founder Naruhisa Nakagawa, and Blue River Technology founder and former John Deere VP Jorge Heraud, who is also on RootWave’s board of directors.
Returning investors included V-Bio Ventures, Rabo Ventures, and PYMWYMIC.
The round includes $3 million in debt facilities provided by Innovate UK as part of the UK’s Future Economy initiative.
RootWave will use the new funding to expand internationally and forge partnerships beyond the permanent tree specialty crop market, where it currently operates.
‘The R&D stage is now behind us’
RootWave’s tractor-mounted implements pass an electrical current through weeds, turning the energy into heat to obliterate the unwanted plants. The company says its patented tech has achieved an up to 99% kill rate in a single pass during independent field trials.
The tech currently works on permanent tree crops in the UK. The next step is to get it to continental Europe and then the US market. A significant allocation of the new capital will go towards this international expansion.
“The R&D stage is now behind us, and we’re at commercial stage now,” RootWave founder Andrew Diprose tells AgFunderNews.
“We’ll [expand] via distributors, so local dealer dealers, distributors that operate already in those markets, and we’ll build out our distribution network that way,” he notes.
RootWave is also expanding outside of permanent tree cops into row crops via a partnering strategy with agri-machinery companies. Its most high-profile example of this is currently its partnership with fellow UK company Garford Farm Machinery, well known for its mechanical weed control products for row crops.
The two companies are combining their existing technologies to bring new products to market for vegetables, cereals and row-crops. The partnership already has concepts for 3m- and 6m-wide products, with a plan for larger machines in the future.
Garford distributes to 30 different countries, which gives RootWave a potentially much wider reach in the future. The latter is providing its high-frequency electronics to Garford’s machines.
Other partnerships with machinery companies remain under wraps for now, but Diprose says RootWave is working with other manufacturers to launch joint products.
Competitive with traditional herbicides
As weeds’ resistance to herbicides increases, weed-zapping tech is considered one viable alternative.
“Decades of chemical herbicides overuse have made resistant weeds one of agriculture’s toughest challenges,” says Clay Capital principal Darren Leong, who adds that RootWave’s offering is an “affordable, effective, and safe alternative.”
“Having known Andrew and the team for over seven years, we have seen their technology evolve from concept to commercial launch, partnering with some of the world’s leading agriculture machinery companies. RootWave is now well-positioned to become the solution of choice for farmers seeking a safer and more effective option”.
One of RootWave’s claims is that it’s technology is competitive with herbicides when it comes to eradicating weeds.
“The international threshold for herbicide to be labeled as effective is 80% kill,” says Diprose. “We’re getting way beyond that.”
In the permanent tree crop space, RootWave is “equal in terms of hectares per hour” with herbicides.
For example, it moves a little slower, but its window for application is wider, since the tech is less beholden to wind speed and temperature.
As well, “the incremental cost for fuel for our solution is significantly less than the consumable cost of herbicide, and therefore the total cost of ownership,” says Diprose. “That’s your consumable, that’s your labor, and your current depreciation over a lifetime of equipment is lower cost per hectare for the majority of farm sizes.”
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