Startup Series: Scythe

Scythe recently announced a $42M Series B round of financing led by Energy Impact Partners to grow and scale their product line of autonomous electric commercial lawnmowers. When discussing the need to electrify everything, we tend to focus on electric vehicles and home efficiency. But over the next 5-10 years most of us will be surprised by just how many things in our daily lives will move from loud, smelly, gasoline-powered engines to quiet, odorless electric motors. This podcast has featured electric solutions for pleasure craft boating, motorcycles, passenger buses, semi trucks, and even cargo shipping. And in most cases, the business models of the electric versions of these things are innovative in some way or another too.

The Scythe team is pioneering a new usage-based model for their mowers and the company believes it offers a more sustainable way for landscaping companies to manage their cashflows and help their employees get the job done.

In this episode, we cover:

[2:00] Jack's background in programming and robots
[4:00] His transition from 3D scanning to landscaping
[6:48] Climate impact of the landscaping business and Scythe's role in helping curb the emissions footprint
[11:03] Scythe's M.52 mower product
[13:17] Why Scythe chose an electric and autonomous solution
[18:16] The safety side of the company's tech
[22:36] Impacts on landscapers' day to day
[27:45] Technology barriers for incumbent mowing companies
[30:18] Scythe's early traction, progress to date, and market share

Get connected:
Cody Simms Twitter / LinkedIn
Jack Morrison / Scythe
MCJ Podcast / Collective

*You can also reach us via email at info@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded on March 7, 2023.

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@mcj.vc.

Connect with MCJ:

*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant