Bear Flag Robotics (Exit)
Summary
Bear Flag Robotics retrofits conventional tractors with proprietary hardware and software and turns them into autonomous tractors. They are addressing the issues of labor availability, cost, efficiency, consistency and they have the potential to work 24 hours/day, increasing the number of planting turns. Today, Bear Flag is focused on tilling and they have started paid pilots with some of California’s largest growers.
Why We Invested
- Strong team that has the academic and professional credentials to solve the autonomous tractor problem.
- Efficient: remarkably rapid progress with very little seed capital.
- Solid initial customer validation with large California growers.
- Large market and potential to scale rapidly with their business model.
Investors
Team
Igino Cafiero CEO/Cofounder
Igino was one of the first 10 engineers at insieme Networks, which was later acquired by Cisco for $863M. He then worked at Cisco as a Product Manager for 2 years before getting his MBA from Wharton. He then founded Bear Flag Robotics. Igino has a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon and an MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford.
Aubrey Donnellan CTO/Cofounder
Aubrey started her career as an R&D Engineer at Boeing Phantom Works. Shen then worked at Accenture as a Senior Strategy Consultant for 7 years. She then completed her MBA at Booth and founded Bear Flag Robotics. Aubrey has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon.
