Queensland agtech startup SwarmFarm Robotics has secured $30 million in Series B funding to ramp up production of its autonomous SwarmBots and expand into North America.
The round was led by European agtech investor Edaphon, with participation from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), QIC and Artesian Capital. The CEFC contributed $7 million through its Powering Australia Technology Fund.
This follows a $12 million Series A in 2023 and $4.5 million in 2020. The company also secured an $856,000 grant from the Northern Australia Development Program in 2022.
SwarmFarm said the fresh capital will be used to increase manufacturing capacity in Toowoomba, expand its team, and accelerate entry into the North American market.
Founded in 2012 by Queensland farmers Andrew and Jocie Bate, SwarmFarm builds small, self-driving robots designed to help growers cut input costs and environmental impact.
The company’s open platform, SwarmConnect, is designed as an “app store for agriculture,” allowing developers to build software tailored to different crops and farming practices.
Farmers can use these applications to customise their robots for specific jobs, while partners gain a direct route to market by integrating their technology with SwarmBots.Bate said the raise gives the business the ability to meet growing demand at home while beginning to scale globally.
“We’ve got adoption here across Australia now, and yet there are so many people we haven’t gotten to. This gives us the ability to get more technology in the hands of more farms across Australia,” he said.
He added that farmer adoption of SwarmFarm’s robots now exceeds the local tractor autonomy market.
Bate said the SwarmConnect ecosystem is critical, with some partners seeing significant growth.
“Some of them have tripled, quadrupled… they’re achieving $20 million plus increases in sales in a 12-month period by being a SwarmConnect partner.”Bate said in the current economic climate, affordability and efficiency are top of mind for farmers heading into 2026.
“Globally, commodity prices are low. Farmers need to be efficient, and machinery is becoming super expensive and unaffordable. What we offer with our SwarmConnect partners is a far more affordable way to put the latest technology on your farm.”
Expensive machinery costs
He contrasted SwarmFarm’s model with the steep price of conventional farm equipment.
“Unless you’re writing a million-dollar check, you’re not buying new farm machinery. A modern combine is about $1.2 million to buy,” Bate said.
In addition to this, he said this equipment is often complex and inconvenient to use.
“They are covered in touch screens and menus and software systems and complicated stuff. The average operator really struggles to deploy that technology and use it to its [full] capability because it’s so complicated.”
Comparatively, SwarmFarm builds smaller autonomous machines that work together in fleets.
“We build small machines that are really simple, and it makes farm equipment affordable again. It’s the complete opposite,” Bate said.
“It’s just an app on your iPhone, and you can put these things to work. It’s simpler to set up than a lot of your touch screens and computer systems in your modern tractors and harvesters.”
That simplicity is also designed to extend to repairability.
“The simplicity of our robots means that right to repair is actually a realistic option on our machines. So farmers can fix it themselves, and they love that.”
- This story first appeared on SmartCompany. You can read the original here.
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.