Key Takeaways
- Upside Robotics secures $7.5 million seed funding led by Plural
- Investors include Garage Capital and founders of Clearpath Robotics
- Company develops autonomous robots for precision fertilizer application
- Technology aims to reduce nitrogen waste by up to 70%
- Plans to operate on 3,000+ acres in Ontario and the U.S. in 2026
Upside Robotics Secures Seed Funding to Address Fertilizer Waste
Upside Robotics, a physical AI company focused on reducing fertilizer waste in row crops, has raised $7.5 million in a seed funding round led by Plural. Additional participants include Garage Capital and the founders of Clearpath Robotics. The round follows a pre-seed investment led by ANIMO Ventures and Moxxie Ventures, with participation from Entrepreneurs First, Scale Good Ventures, and others.
Current fertilizer systems for row crops often rely on early-season mass application, with estimates suggesting that up to 70% of nitrogen fertilizer goes unused. According to Upside Robotics, this inefficiency increases costs, emissions, and environmental impact.
The company’s solution replaces early mass applications with autonomous, lightweight robots that deliver fertilizer precisely where and when crops require it. By combining autonomous navigation with data-driven decision-making, the robots are designed to reduce input waste while supporting yield performance.
Jana Tian, co-founder and CEO of Upside Robotics, stated: “Upside captures that agronomic knowledge and applies it autonomously in real time across every acre. We’re creating continuous crop care that works with nature and reduces decision fatigue for farmers.”
Upside Robotics Demonstrates Field Deployment
Co-founder and CTO Sam Dugan noted that the system has logged more than 10,000 autonomous kilometers and applied over 100,000 liters of fertilizer across more than 1,200 acres.
Founded in 2024, Upside Robotics emerged from the Entrepreneurs First accelerator. Tian previously worked in food innovation at Unilever and directly with growers, while Dugan has experience in mechatronics, autonomous vehicle research for GM, robotics for BMW, and drone technology.
Carina Namih, Partner at Plural, said: “They’ve built a product that inspires a level of customer love I’ve never seen before.”
Matt Rendall, co-founder of Clearpath Robotics, added: “Upside is an agronomy company first, using robotics as a tool to solve fertilizer waste.”
Upside Robotics Plans Expansion Across North America
Upside Robotics plans to operate on more than 3,000 acres in Ontario and the United States in 2026, with customers reporting potential savings of up to $150 per acre and fertilizer reductions of up to 70%. The company is preparing to expand into the U.S. Corn Belt and reports a waitlist of more than 200 farms.
According to the company, its technology is positioned to support growers facing rising input costs, labor shortages, and climate variability, while advancing more precise, data-driven nutrient management practices.
