Technology

Monarch Tractor Announces $133M Series C Funding – Marking Largest-Ever Raise in Agricultural Robotics

Published

2 years ago

July 22, 2024

With this latest raise, the company behind the world’s first fully electric, driver-optional, smart tractor cements its position as a leader in the space

LIVERMORE, Calif., July 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Monarch Tractor, creator of the MK-V, the world’s first fully electric, driver-optional smart tractor and Wingspan Ag Intelligence (WingspanAI) farm management platform, has today announced a history-making $133 million Series C, making it the largest funding raising round in agricultural robotics history.

Monarch has quickly become a powerhouse within the agricultural space as an off-road electric vehicles (EV) and autonomous vehicles (AV) category leader. To date, the company has raised over $220 million to enable clean, efficient, and economically viable solutions as well as expanded into various agricultural markets such as vineyards, dairy, berries, orchards, and land management across 12 states and three countries. Furthermore, in just the last two years alone they have been recognized as an influential force in farming at national and international levels via accolades, including Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startups, CNBC Disruptor 50, TIME Best Inventions, and Fast Company World’s Most Innovative Companies.

The Series C funds will support the further development of Monarch’s cutting-edge AI product offering, expansion of their operational footprint domestically and globally, while enabling the company’s path to profitability.

Funding was co-led by global impact investor Astanor and HH-CTBC Partnership, L.P., with additional support from prominent investors, including At One Ventures, PMV and The Welvaartsfonds.

Monarch’s mission with farmer success at the center

Founded on the belief that food security only exists with planet sustainability and farmer profitability, Monarch has been at the forefront of the critical transition to renewably powered and more profitable farming ecosystems, which ultimately empowers farmers worldwide.

In the United States, farm profitability has steadily declined over the past decade, with the sharpest decline in industry history occurring in 2023. Given the nascent nature of technology in agriculture, the sector is ripe with untapped growth potential across automation, digital technologies and AI efficiencies, with Monarch at the forefront of this disruption and technological advancement.

“Driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and electrification, agriculture has arrived as the next frontier for the energy transition and sustainability movement,” said Praveen Penmetsa, CEO and co-founder of Monarch Tractor. “Agriculture is our planet’s most important and overlooked sector, and those in the industry have faced significant challenges, including farm profitability, labor shortages, worker safety, government headwinds, data availability, and scrutiny for sustainability demands. Monarch’s application of AI and introduction of a smart, electric platform will deliver robust social, economic, and environmental returns to farmers.”

AI continues to revolutionize farming machinery

Tractors have been the center of all farm operations for several decades. Yet, they’ve been underutilized as a hub for robotics innovation and farmer payback.

In December 2022, Monarch released the world’s first fully electric, driver-optional, smart tractor, the MK-V, to combat profit challenges, address sustainability demands, and revive agriculture innovation. Since then, the deployment of more than 400 MK-V’s have helped; resulting in more than 850 tonnes of harmful CO2 emissions offset across 42,000 hours of tractor operations.

Monarch’s WingspanAI app is equipping farmers with unprecedented access to on-farm data, integrating a farm management system, vehicle position tracking, crop image collection, and automated operations planning into one platform. The continual development of product solutions, including the introduction of new AI capabilities, will be the driving force in closing the industry’s profit gap.

This funding round will support the expansion of Monarch’s digital solutions and AI applications, including the development of Autodrive, Monarch’s autonomous operations feature, for new global markets and crop sectors.

For more information on Monarch Tractor, visit: www.monarchtractor.com/

About Monarch Tractor

Monarch Tractor’s MK-V is the world’s ﬁrst fully electric, driver-optional, smart tractor that combines electriﬁcation, automation, machine learning, and data analysis to enhance farmer’s existing operations, cut overhead costs, reduce emissions and increase labor productivity and safety. Monarch Tractor is committed to elevating farming practices to enable clean, efﬁcient, and economically viable solutions for today’s farmers and the generations of farmers to come. Operating in more than five continents, Monarch Tractor serves vineyards, orchards, blueberries, dairy, and land management sectors. With cutting-edge technology and a global presence, Monarch is delivering meaningful change for the future of farming. For more information, visit www.monarchtractor.com.

Monarch Tractor Media Contact:

Sling & Stone l monarchtractor@slingstone.com

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SOURCE Monarch Tractor

Technology

BlueNexus Technologies Unveils AquaX Hub at SIWW 2026 — AI Autonomous Operations Extended to Legacy Water Assets

Published

3 hours ago

June 21, 2026

SINGAPORE, June 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — At Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) 2026, BlueNexus Technologies unveiled the global debut of AquaX Hub™ — a compact plug-and-play edge device that brings full AI-powered autonomous operation to standalone water equipment and legacy treatment plants. The launch drew sustained engagement from utilities, industrial operators and engineering firms.

The water sector confronts converging pressures: aging infrastructure, a critical shortage of skilled technicians, and relentless operational cost escalation. AquaX Hub™ answers these directly — extending the AI autonomous operation already proven plant-wide by AquaX Robot™ to a single asset, and delivering comparable monitoring and operational management without a control-system overhaul.

“The industry cannot hire its way out of this problem,” said Jack Zhang, CEO of BlueNexus Technologies. “AI autonomous operation is no longer a future concept — the barrier to entry is gone.”

The AquaX Ecosystem

BlueNexus has built the industry’s first fully integrated AI autonomous water operation platform, spanning three complementary pillars:

AquaX Robot™ is the flagship plant-wide AI agent, built on large language models with proprietary vision, acoustic and infrared multimodal sensing. It optimizes treatment processes 24/7 and predicts equipment failures. Live deployments show up to 90% reduction in on-site staffing, a 50% drop in equipment breakdowns, and approximately 35% lower O&M costs.

AquaX Hub™, making its global debut at SIWW 2026, is a lightweight edge terminal extending that capability to any water system. With an independent local processing module, it monitors and inspects equipment through multimodal sensing and runs a self-contained processing loop. The device integrates seamlessly with existing SCADA, cloud and enterprise platforms via standardized APIs.

i-WaterHub™, the company’s standardized modular treatment plant, operated autonomously by AquaX Robot, delivers 2,500 to 40,000 m³/day for municipal and industrial applications.

Market Momentum

SIWW 2026 convened nearly 500 exhibitors from over 65 countries. BlueNexus has identified priority markets for AquaX Hub™ in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. “The conversations this week have already translated into concrete business opportunities and we expect rapid deployment in the coming months.” Zhang confirmed.

About BlueNexus Technologies

BlueNexus Technologies is a Singapore-based water-technology company building intelligent, AI-operated systems for the world’s most water-intensive industries. We design and deliver modular water treatment infrastructure that is smarter to run, faster to deploy, and built to operate autonomously.

Web: www.bluenexus.tech

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SOURCE BlueNexus Technologies

Technology

VIVATECH 2026 CELEBRATES ITS 10TH ANNIVERSARY WITH A RECORD EDITION SURPASSING 200,000 VISITORS

Published

11 hours ago

June 20, 2026

With the presence of Emmanuel Macron and Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India

PARIS, June 20, 2026 /CNW/ — From June 17 to 20, 2026 at Paris Porte de Versailles, VivaTech celebrated its 10th edition, surpassing the exceptional milestone of 200,000 visitors from 165 nationalities, with more than 15,000 startups present, 1,155 speakers and over 5 billion cumulative impressions on social media. Europe’s largest tech and innovation event has reached a new dimension, consolidating its status as an unmissable global gathering.

Exceptional speakers

VivaTech welcomed the greatest figures in global tech: Jeff Bezos (Amazon & Blue Origin), Dave Limp (Blue Origin), Bernard Arnault (LVMH), Henna Virkkunen (European Commission), Ekaterina Zaharieva (European Commission). Germany, Country of the Year 2026, was represented by a ministerial delegation, while India, AI Country Partner 2026, was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as a continuation of the AI Summit in New Delhi.

Innovation and business at the heart of the event

More than 4,500 exhibitors, 61% of whom were international, showcased their latest innovations. Among the standout innovations: the smart contact lens by XPANCEO, the thought-controlled humanoid robot by Unitree x HABS, and the 3D-printed resorbable implants by Lattice Medical. New formats such as the Business Plaza and Investors Office Hours further accelerated business connections.

The VivaTech x Bloomberg Awards

For the first time, VivaTech presented the VivaTech x Bloomberg Awards, recognising the most influential figures in global tech, including Sir Tim Berners-Lee (Visionary Award), Joe Tsai (Leadership Award) and Yann LeCun (Momentum Award).

Innovation open to all

VivaTech also took over the Champs-Élysées on June 14th for an open-air technology showcase, before opening its doors to the general public on June 20th with astronaut Thomas Pesquet as guest star.

“This 10th edition was not a celebration of the 9 previous years, but the opening of a new decade full of promise.” — Maurice Lévy, Michèle Benbunan & François Bitouzet, VivaTech

See you from June 16 to 19, 2027 at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles for VivaTech 2027!

About VivaTech

VivaTech accelerates innovation by connecting startups, tech leaders, major companies, and investors responding to our world’s biggest challenges.

Each year, over four exciting days in Paris, VivaTech creates Europe’s biggest startup and tech event, exploring the most disruptive topics in tech with world-premiere demos, launches, and conferences in a collaborative ecosystem. This is where business meets innovation. Join us for the eleventh edition of VivaTech 16-19 June 2027.

For more information go to our website at https://vivatech.com/media or follow us on social media @VivaTech.

Contact
press@vivatechnology.com

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SOURCE VivaTech

Technology

Pope Leo XIV embraces paediatric patients at CNAO in Pavia

Published

14 hours ago

June 20, 2026

PAVIA, Italy, June 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The National Center for Oncological Hadrontherapy (CNAO) served as the first stop today during Pope Leo XIV’s pastoral visit to the city of Pavia. His choice to begin his journey at this center reflects a profound commitment to fostering meaningful dialogue between advanced scientific progress and the alleviation of human suffering.

CNAO President Gianluca Vago and General Manager Sandro Rossi received His Holiness, illustrating the center’s distinctive capabilities. CNAO stands out as a unique reality in Italy, remaining one of the very few facilities worldwide capable of delivering hadrontherapy using both protons and carbon ions. The technological core of the facility is its synchrotron, a subatomic particle accelerator that generates ultra-high-precision beams to treat complex, inoperable and radioresistant tumours. This cutting-edge technology allows for the targeted eradication of diseased cells while meticulously preserving surrounding healthy tissues, drastically improving patients’ survival and quality of life.

Furthermore, CNAO is expanding its capabilities as a premier multi-center utilizing new ion species, like Helium, later Oxygen and Neon. Soon, treatments will incorporate the Leo Cancer Care upright positioning and imaging system. The immediate future also includes beginning therapies with a Hitachi dedicated proton accelerator and gantry and a BNCT system for metastatic diseases, equipped with an electrostatic accelerator produced by TAE Life Science. With these new technologies, CNAO will become one of the most technologically advanced center in the world.

To date, over six thousand individuals, including approximately three hundred children and adolescents, have benefited from these life-saving treatments.

During his visit, the Pope engaged with CNAO’s Board of Directors, a collaborative body uniting national universities, clinical institutions, and research centers. He also extended his heartfelt greetings to the two hundred employees of the center. These doctors, physicists, engineers, and researchers tirelessly operate the advanced technologies in the service of oncology patients.

The emotional pinnacle of the day was the Holy Father’s private gathering with a delegation of young children who underwent treatment. The paediatric patients and their families shared a deeply touching moment of closeness, receiving the Pope’s comforting embrace.

“The visit of Pope Leo XIV honours us and represents a moment of extraordinary human value”, stated CNAO President Gianluca Vago. “In his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, the Holy Father emphasizes the necessity of a science that constantly safeguards the centrality of the person and directs technology toward the common good. In a time marked by global tensions, CNAO testifies daily how the incredible power of the atom can be used not to destroy, but to heal. The particle beams we utilize against disease are, symbolically, Rays of Hope, sharing and supporting the IAEA project bearing this name. The embrace the Holy Father reserved for our children reminds us that scientific research finds its most authentic purpose when it encounters listening, compassion, and hope”.

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