In what may be seen as a new shift in investor interest, Bengaluru based agriculture robotics startup TartanSense raised a sum of Rs 15 crore from Omnivore Partners, Blume Ventures, and BEENEXT, as reported by Economic Times.

The startup is trying to solve issues of the agricultural sector which occupies 60 per cent of land but contributes to only 15 per cent of GDP. TartanSense is developing robots for small farms using Artificial Intelligence (AI), computer vision and robotics to build precision sprayers. The robots will help save cost and leave less chemical residue on fruits and vegetables consumed.

TartanSense’s first product is BrijBot, is a weed spraying robotic solution for smallholder cotton farmers. The product reportedly has the potential to reduce weeding costs by up to 70 per cent.

“The next feature which will be added to the robot will be automated harvesting where a robotic solution can help with quick and timely harvesting of the crop,” said Rao, the founder of TartanSense.

The investors added, “We are firm believers that Indian deeptech can scale globally, and there are limitless possibilities for agricultural applications,” Karthik Reddy, Managing Partner at Blume Ventures was quoted in the report as saying.