Tevel
Tevel is developing a Flying Autonomous Robot (FAR) for orchard fruit harvesting.
Summary
Declining farm labor is the single largest problem facing orchard farmers today. Harvesting labor costs can repreresent 50% of an average farm's operating expenses, a figure that is expected to increase by 50% over the next decade. Tevel's mission is to support orchard farmers and workers with on-demand, fully autonomous flying robots and bring harvesting automation to the global market. Tevel has developed Flying Autonomous Robots (FARs) that integrate AI, computer vision, image processing and machine learning with advanced sensors, processors and aeromechanics to deliver effective, versatile and affordable harvesting technology.
Why We Invested
- Very strong CEO with whom we have been consistently impressed. Yaniv has proven that he is able to develop and build extremely high-tech products efficiently from inception to scale.
- Drone harvesting, while it initially might seem counterintuitive, seems like an elegant technical solution with the low CapEx and increased mobility.
- We had been speaking with Tevel for several months before investing and during that time their technical execution has been outstanding.
- Even though Tevel is pre-revenue, they have built deep relationships with orchard customers who unanimously praised Tevel's team, technology and approach.
Contact Tevel
Team
Yaniv Maor
CEO/CTO/Cofounder
Yaniv started his career at VKB, a virtual laser keyboard producer, where he was an Electronics, Software & Algorithm Team Leader. After five years he moved to Lumio, a producer of optical touch-screens, where he eventually became VP of R&D. He then moved to a large defense contractor where he developed very high tech defense mechanisms. He led the technical team that invented the mechanism and reduced it in size and cost significantly compared to their American competitors. Yaniv claims he always wanted to start a company like Tevel and that in 2016 he believed that the technology was finally ready to make significant progress. He has written 20 patents plus an additional 8 PCT approved patents for Tevel. Yaniv holds a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering and an ME in Systems Engineering from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology.
Freddy Raitan
CCO
Before Joining Tevel, Freddy was the CEO of Lumio Inc. At Lumio, Freddy was the CEO of Sovena, the largest private olive oil company globally with revenues of over $1.5b and sales distribution in over 35 countries. Before Sovena, Freddy was VP of Corporate Development at Sagaz, the largest automotive accessories manufacturer in the US, where he successfully expanded product lines and distribution before leading the company’s sale to Pennzoil. Freddy holds a BS in Manufacturing Engineering from Boston University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Ittai Marom
COO
A veteran Israel Air Force pilot and operations executive, Ittai has over 15 years of project and product management experience. Before Tevel, Ittai served as VP Operations at EyeClick, an interactive gaming technology company where he served thousands of installations worldwide, managed global supply chains, and led its next-generation product’s hardware development line. Previously, he held several positions at Aeronautics Group, a developer and manufacturer of unmanned aerial systems. He also served for over 20 years as a pilot in the Israel Air Force in regular duty and reserve duty. Ittai earned a BS in Physics from Technion - Israel Institute of Technology and an MBA from Temple University.