Automation is now a late-stage capital sink that is gaining share of agrifoodtech spending as virtually every other category implodes. Here are some of the key findings as I dug through the 2025 data to see what’s likely coming in 2026 for automation based on AgFunderNews data from the last 10 years.
1) There are some structural insights and some definite phases in the automation segment. The table in this article has all the data, and here are some of the key areas. First, look at 2015 where automation reached a high-water mark of 8.3 percent of total agrifoodtech ($38 million of $4.6 billion), in part because much of the agtech investment that year was focused on robotics and drones.
Second, look at 2018-2021 when capital flooded the downstream segments (marketplaces, fintech, foodtech) and crowded out automation in a big way. Automation funding as a percentage of total agrifoodtech funding was 0.9 percent, 1.5 percent and 1.8 percent for 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively. Since then, it has grown as a percentage of agrifoodtech investment to 2.4 percent (2022), 4.9 percent (2023) and 5.3 percent (2024), even as the overall number dropped from $95 million in 2021 to $71 million in 2022, $76 million in 2023 and $85 million in 2024.
With an absolute decrease of $10 million, the percentage almost tripled from 1.8 percent to 5.3 percent. How did this happen? Well, this is what happens when overhyped categories like controlled environment agriculture (CEA)—largely vertical farming—and alt-protein (beef alternatives) get 42 percent of agrifoodtech funding in 2021 and burn through that money with no returns at all. So as those and other categories shrunk, automation gains just largely stayed in place.
2) The spending by investment stage (or round) for automation has completely flipped in 10 years. In 2015, the amount of spending on Seed + Series A rounds was 72 percent and Series B and later was 28 percent. That mix has steadily shifted toward a smaller Seed/Series A percentage and a larger Series B and later percentage. The results from the table show that in 2014 the switch was entirely flipped to 22 percent on Seed and Series A and 78 percent on Series B and later.
The narrative is straightforward when you look at the data. In the early years, much of the 78 percent of funding went to early-stage seed and A rounds—loosely the experimentation phase of agrifoodtech venture capital, spreading a lot of capital across multiple bets in a segment and letting the market determine which ones get traction and the latest round of financing. Then after 2020, the investment dollars began to concentrate into fewer, capital-intensive platforms. This is also a natural evolution in capital markets because investors generally leave funds available to participate in follow-on rounds and maintain their pro rata position to avoid getting diluted by later investors with new capital or (in the parlance of venture capitalists) taking a larger position to “own the cap table.”
Finally, in 2023 and 2024, 75 percent to 80 percent of automation investment capital goes to Series B or later. This would include Carbon Robotics, Verdant Robotics, Ecorobotix, Farmwise (pre-sale to Taylor Farms) and GUSS (now fully acquired by Deere in summer 2025 after a joint venture investment). There are two trends going on here. The first is that as these companies gain early traction and then continue the momentum in the marketplace with revenue growth, they are able to raise capital (or at least attempt to raise capital), so more later-stage capital is needed. The second is that with the 80 percent reduction in agrifoodtech venture capital, the funnel needs to shift even more to portfolio protection and taking care of the cap tables you are already on. In short, given the choice of making new early-stage bets or doubling down on existing investments, many investors are choosing the double down strategy.
3) There are a few years that really stand out for agrifoodtech automation. In 2017, automation went up 92 percent ($109 million to $209 million), followed by 76 percent in 2018 (to $368 million). Then another two-year period showed huge growth. First, 2020 was a 112 percent growth year ($179 million to $380 million), and 2021 was an 84 percent growth year to $700 million. Obviously, not every year was as good, thus the drop that enabled the jump in 2020/2021. The trend to watch is the overall automation percentage of total agrifoodtech investment, which has now been 4.9 percent and 4.8 percent the past two years. It’s good to see it near 5 percent the past two years. Unlike other categories, automation is solving one of the largest problems in agriculture—particularly for specialty crops. That would be labor availability and cost.