4AG Robotics, a pioneer in fully autonomous mushroom harvesting, has closed its C$40 million (Canadian dollars) Series B financing.
The investment round was led by Astanor and Cibus Capital, with support from new investor Voyager Capital and existing investors InBC, Emmertech, BDC Industrial Innovation Fund, Jim Richardson Family Office, Stray Dog Capital and Seraph Group.
This round follows a $17.5 million round in 2023, bringing total capital raised to $57.5 million in the past two years.
The funding positions 4AG to meet surging global demand for its robotic harvesting platform, already in use across Canada, Ireland, and Australia, with new deployments soon to be underway in the Netherlands and the United States.
Sean O’Connor, CEO of 4AG Robotics, says: “This funding helps us leap from a start-up proving our product works to a scale-up manufacturer trying to keep pace with demand.
“In just two and a half years, we’ve gone from asking farms to trial our technology to having deposits for over 40 additional robots. As one of the first companies to fully automate the human hand in produce harvesting, we’re ushering in a new era for mushroom farming.”
4AG’s system uses AI-powered computer vision, precision suction grippers, and advanced motion control to autonomously harvest, trim, and pack mushrooms 24/7 – without manual labor.
Designed to retrofit into existing Dutch-rack infrastructure, the robots enable consistent quality, reduced labour costs, and real-time operational data for growers.
Chris Payne, COO of 4AG Robotics, says: “What sets us apart is we are not just a theoretical robotics project that works in a controlled lab environment – it’s the real world experience and the systems thinking that is critical to working with the complexity of real farm environments, and being able to deliver commercially successful automation into those environments.”
The investment marks Astanor’s entry as a major partner to 4AG Robotics.
Harry Briggs, partner at Astanor Ventures, says: “We believe that, of all the agricultural sectors, mushrooms are the most poised for robotic solutions – and we believe that 4AG is not only the clear global leader today, but also has the potential, thanks to AI advances and their rich image data, to drive up yields and reduce inputs across the industry.
“4AG could be at the forefront of the transformation of agriculture through AI and robotics.”
Cibus Capital, a leading agri-food tech investor based in the UK, also joined the round to support 4AG’s continued expansion into Europe and beyond.
Archie Burgess, investment director at Cibus Capital, says: “We are very excited to partner with 4AG, the global leader in agricultural harvesting robotics.
“Mushroom farming presents an enormous opportunity to utilise robotics and AI to drive labour optimisation together with higher yields and improved quality.
“The impressive 4AG team has already developed a fleet of robots that pick up to 1 million mushrooms per week. We look forward to supporting them in accelerating this trajectory.”
The global mushroom sector – expected to surpass $70 billion by 2030 – continues to face labour shortages and margin pressure. In western markets, harvesting accounts for up to 50 percent of production costs.
These challenges are amplified by the constant need of harvesting, with mushrooms doubling in size every 24 hours, and farms needing to harvest their crops everyday of the year.
4AG’s plug-and-play robotic fleet offers growers a path to long-term competitiveness without reconfiguring their entire operation.
Michelle Lim, VP of growth at 4AG Robotics, says: “We’re not just building robots – we’re building a new operating system for the mushroom industry.
“Growers want tech that works out of the box, delivers ROI in under three years, and scales globally. That’s what we’ve built. And this funding gives us the fuel to move even faster.”
With this capital, 4AG Robotics will:
- Expand its manufacturing footprint in Salmon Arm, British Columbia
- Grow its field service and customer success teams
- Accelerate development of next-gen features like punnet packing, disease detection, and AI-driven yield optimization
