Ƶ Invests in an Agriculture Technology Start-up in the U.S. Making Inroads into Automation of Fruit Harvesting Services through the Open Innovation Strategy
August 28, 2019
Ƶ Corporation (Headquarters: Naniwa-ku, Osaka, Japan; President and Representative Director: Masatoshi Kimata; hereinafter “Ƶ”) today announced that it has invested in Advanced Farm Technologies, Inc. (hereinafter “advanced.farm”), a U.S.-based start-up offering robotics-based automation solutions in the agriculture field.
Through this investment in advanced.farm, Ƶ intends to assist farming businesses in the U.S. and other regions in saving labor and increasing work efficiency.
1. Background and aims
- In order to accelerate the ongoing initiative to offer new value to our customers by way of open innovation through collaboration with external partners, Ƶ established its Innovation Center this June.
- As part of this initiative, Ƶ has focused on “harvesting services,” which are in high demand among farmers of fruits and vegetables, and decided to invest in advanced.farm, which offers cutting-edge automation solutions in this field and is working on a robotic strawberry harvester for commercial purposes.
- With this investment decision, Ƶ will strengthen its technological development for labor saving and automation of harvesting operations of strawberries and other fruits and vegetables, while at the same time propelling the solution business utilizing these technologies, thereby contributing to labor-saving, efficient farm operations in the U.S. and other regions.
2. About “advanced.farm”
| Name | Advanced Farm Technologies, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Establishment | 2018 |
| Location | California, the U.S. |
| Line of business | Development of automated strawberry harvesting robots, contract harvesting services |
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