Chinese agricultural drone maker secures $30m in round led by Temasek, others

Chinese agricultural drone startup EAVision Technologies said it raised US$30 million in a series C round led by Singapore’s Temasek, state-sponsored fund China International Trust Investment Corporation (CITIC), and agrifood tech VC Bits x Bites.

Strategic investors such as BASF in Germany, Continental Grain Company in the US, Zhidao Capital, Songshan Capital, Yongxin Oriental, and Chinese fresh fruit retailer Pagoda, in addition to financial investors such as Suzhou Oriza Holdings, also participated in the round.

Photo credit: EAVision

EAVision is a smart agricultural robotics company that uses computer vision for autonomous crop protection. Its unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) combine AI visual recognition and precision spraying to allow farmers to protect their produce even in challenging geographical environments.

The company said it will use the fresh funding to enhance its research and development efforts and accelerate its global market expansion. Its UAVs are currently deployed in China, Japan, Korea, and Africa.

“UAVs are uniquely suited for China, as its geographical characteristics make fixed-wing aircrafts or similarly large land-based machinery popular…” said Bits x Bites managing partner, Joseph Zhou. According to the statement, mountain farming accounts for more than 34% of China’s cultivated land.

EAVision claims that its UAVs have helped a Southwest Chinese sugarcane farm maintain the same output as those with traditional farm workers while boosting sugar levels by 3%. In a citrus farm in the Guangxi province, the company said its products have helped show a 90% improvement over traditional labor in preventing spider mites.