Small Robot Co

Today BBC Farming Today interviewed our CEO Ben Scott-Robinson about our liquidation, highlighting the challenges around UK AgTech funding, which it deemed a crisis. https://lnkd.in/eF25egS2 Unfortunately, we could not come through the valley of death, even with our angels. Sadly, we fell foul through endemic perceived risk around agtech, particularly in the UK. We secured an international investor, but could not close the deal within our runway. A heartfelt thanks for all your support in getting this far. Looking back, it really is incredible what we achieved. We were so close to ‘escape velocity’. Ultimately, we hit our biggest technical goal, our farmers’ ‘Holy Grail’: grass weed detection at scale. To get there, we had the support of thousands behind us, without which this wouldn’t have been possible. We’ve had incredible backing from our investors, our NEDs, our farmer advisors and customers, our community, our partners, and from the top of government and across the industry. Fundamentally, we could never have achieved this without strong financial backing. Innovate UK allowed us to get off the ground, and it was the enthusiastic support of farmers and the thousands of retail investors that carried us through six equity raises on Crowdcube, raising a phenomenal £14.2 million in total across grant and equity funding. Thank you to all our Crowdcube investors and to our seed raise backers VC 7percent Ventures and Valhalla Investments for your belief and support. Thank you to Innovate UK for supporting this groundbreaking, world-class innovation. With this support and incredible partners we achieved world-first breakthroughs and technological milestones, recognised as one of TIME magazine’s Inventions of 2022. https://lnkd.in/d9xdKwyW It is with great sadness that our journey is ending before we could successfully deliver our mission, and our value to you, who have backed us every step of the way. In the end the perceived risk around agtech robotics for cereal crops was too great to close a VC deal. Huge thanks to all of those who worked with us to try and unblock the funding gap and explore other options, including George Freeman MP, Indro Mukerjee, Richard Gueterbock, Katrina Hayter, CHRIS DANKS, Jo Churchill MP, Calum Murray, Nikos Pronios, Phil Broek MIEx, Steve Harrison, The National Robotarium, Tom Hume, Nic Newman, Henry Harris-Burland, @Alistair Marnoch, Deeptech Labs, Sammy Fry, Leo Johnson, Tom Allen-Stevens, Wendy Hewitson. We hope that the liquidation process is able to find a future for the technology which continues to have a benefit to farmers, and the planet. #Innovation #agtech #startup #investment #venturecapital #greentech

It is with great sadness that after a long fight Small Robot Company today proceeds into liquidation. Our technology delivered value at a profit, with customers waiting, but we could not secure the required investment to scale. We had a signed Term Sheet, but unfortunately the investment did not land before our runway ended. We have created something remarkable in the last 6 years. We co-designed our service with farmers, successfully delivering their ‘Holy Grail’, a world first: grass weed detection at field scale. This went commercially live in September, with huge potential: UK blackgrass alone loses farmers £400 million each year. Service last season demonstrated up to 90% herbicide and 24% fertiliser savings. We believe we developed something that will be a cornerstone of how farms are run in the future, but unfortunately with this attempt we were too early for the market. Our chapter in the fourth agricultural revolution is over. We hope we have inspired others to continue the mission. As of the 1st February, Kroll has been appointed as administrators to sell the assets. We have worked with them to find potential acquirers, ideally to find a future for some of the team and the technology which continues to have a benefit to farmers, and the planet. We would like to thank everyone who has supported us in our mission to make farming sustainable, in particular, our team, whose dedication and perseverance brought us so close to success, and those of you who gave us bridge funding and assistance to explore all options to continue. We worked very hard to pursue all avenues, including finance and acquisition. We received huge support in these attempts from our community, and across the industry, for which we are profoundly grateful. Sadly, we have reached the end of our road. Thank you for supporting our journey. Innovate UK, Agri-TechE, 7percent Ventures, Crop Health & Protection - CHAP, Agri-EPI Centre, British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN), The National Robotarium, The James Hutton Institute, Royal Agricultural Society of England, National Trust, Waitrose & Partners Joe Allnutt, Nemo Scott-Robinson, Sarra Mander, Catherine Pratt, Robin Jackson, Andy Hall, James Vining, Christopher Nash, Ben Laurence, Jamie Burrows, Paul Humpage, Raymond King CEng MIAgrE, Geoff Osmond, David Moser, Barrie Heptonstall, Laura Parnell, Rowan Duckworth, Sophie Waddington, Sam Herring, Sam Bush, Tom Walters, Ameen A Jaleel (AJ), Andrew Starkey, Rhian Griffith CEng MIMechE, David Barker, James Lawrence, Faisal Rajput, Jordan McHale, Robert Siebert, Jay Diamond Guy Peckett, Stephanie Kelly, Krisztina Sinkovics #agtech #sustainable #farmingforthefuture #farming #innovation

Happy New year everyone! As we start 2024 we want to look back on some of the highlights of 2023 here at Small Robot Co. We were delighted to attend so many fantastic events last year. From The Regenerative Agriculture Conference, to the World FIRA 2023, to the Ag Robotics Summit 🤖 as well as many others. Of course a real high for us was Groundswell Agriculture Ltd once again, where we were a part of the SLIMERS project launch, in partnership with British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN) and Crop Health & Protection - CHAP. https://lnkd.in/e9iUnepf

Today we look back in more detail at another highlight of 2023 for us, a follow up to the SlugBot project, SLIMERS. This slug control project SLIMERS, is being delivered by Innovate UK, in partnership with British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN) and Crop Health & Protection - CHAP. With slugs costing UK farming about £43.5m a year, SLIMERS is looking to find a sustainable solution to deal with these pests. You can read more in this Farmers Weekly article. https://lnkd.in/eRkmFjbK

Happy New year everyone! As we start 2024 we want to look back on some of the highlights of 2023 here at Small Robot Co. We were delighted to attend so many fantastic events last year. From The Regenerative Agriculture Conference, to the World FIRA 2023, to the Ag Robotics Summit 🤖 as well as many others. Of course a real high for us was Groundswell Agriculture Ltd once again, where we were a part of the SLIMERS project launch, in partnership with British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN) and Crop Health & Protection - CHAP. https://lnkd.in/e9iUnepf

Happy New year everyone! As we start 2024 we want to look back on some of the highlights of 2023 here at Small Robot Co. We were delighted to attend so many fantastic events last year. From The Regenerative Agriculture Conference, to the World FIRA 2023, to the Ag Robotics Summit 🤖 as well as many others. Of course a real high for us was Groundswell Agriculture Ltd once again, where we were a part of the SLIMERS project launch, in partnership with British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN) and Crop Health & Protection - CHAP. https://lnkd.in/e9iUnepf

Season’s Greetings from all of us at Small Robot Co.

Do you want to hear the latest news from SLIMERS? British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN) has a webinar coming up in January to introduce farmer-led field trials that will use special hand-held rigs to improve a robot's ability to detect slugs. With speakers from BOFIN, Crop Health & Protection - CHAP and our own Small Robot Co Technical Lead Ray King. Register here now: https://lnkd.in/emU_PU9B #SlimerProject #SustainableFarming

Our small robot Tom has two key components manufactured by 3D printing from Protolabs. The SSD mount and the steering actuator cap, essential to his job gathering data on individual plants, allowing for precision fertiliser applications and spot-apply herbicides. You can read more about Tom and his amazing 3D printed parts here: https://lnkd.in/gGXWA53d #AgriTech #SustainableFarming

Who else spotted the SLIMERS project on BBC News? A follow up to the SlugBot project looking to control slugs more sustainably, this latest Innovate UK project is a three-year £2.6M research programme involving more than 100 UK farms in partnership with British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN) and Crop Health & Protection - CHAP. Read all about SLIMERS, the Slug Circle and Slug Sleuths here: https://lnkd.in/e3cvmC3p #SustainableFarming #SlimersProject