TechCrunch Startup News Orchard Robotics raises $22M for farm vision AI; also, Mistral on the cusp of securing a $14B valuation
Sep 4, 2025
Orchard Robotics has secured $22 million in funding to enhance agriculture through advanced AI and computer vision, aiming to replace outdated manual processes in farming. Meanwhile, Mistral AI is on track to achieve a staggering $14 billion valuation with a €2 billion investment. This French startup, founded by former tech giants, is making waves with its open-source language models and a tailored AI chatbot for European users. The podcast dives into the rapid growth and innovation happening in both agriculture and the European AI landscape.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Founder Story From Farm Roots
- Charlie Wu built Orchard Robotics after being inspired by his Apple-farming grandparents and studying CS at Cornell.
- He dropped out, became a Teal Fellow, and started the company in 2022 to apply vision AI to specialty crops.
Manual Sampling Leaves Big Blind Spots
- Large U.S. farms still rely on manual sampling, leaving big gaps in knowledge about crop status.
- Orchard's camera and AI approach fills that visibility gap by measuring fruit size, color, and health at scale.
Use Tractor Cameras To Collect Field Data
- Attach Orchard's high-resolution camera to tractors to collect continuous fruit imagery while driving through fields.
- Upload images to Orchard's cloud to analyze fruit health and guide fertilization, pruning, and thinning decisions.