Today we are pleased to report that TerraClear’s existing investors have poured an additional $15M into capturing the untapped $2.7B rock management market.
In 2023 we solved the remaining mechanical and software challenges. 2024 and beyond are focused on bringing these well-heeled solutions to every farmer, with a continued focus on increasing efficiency and reducing costs. We will grow our commercial sales operation, enhance our distribution partnerships, and advance our end-to-end robotic rock management technology.
While we receive steady interest from Europe, Australia, and Canada, our predominant focus is in America’s heartland, where we have farmers large and small enjoying the process of rock clearance for the first time in their lives. Their combines and planters are safer from damage and for those using the Rock Map and TC80, their kids are excited for rock-picking days. A 5,000-year-old problem, finally, has a solution.
Typical of people with hard-earned business success, farmers are “show me” customers. They commit 400-500 acres to our rock management solutions and require us to prove our worth. Once they experience the completeness and efficiency on those initial acres we hear, “Let’s do another 2,000 acres”.
The willingness to do more comes down to proven value. “Labor savings is huge. We took our crew of nine people down to one person. And it took just one week versus two weeks before.” said Minnesota Farmer Jacob Ebeling. Iowa farmer Lance Lillibrige said, “It saved us a lot of time and a lot of money. And not just savings on labor, but savings from less equipment damage too.” Experiences like these are why customer renewals are over 95% and demand is increasing.
“Our success is in developing innovative yet practical solutions that solve farmers’ problems. The additional funds enable us to move faster to meet demand, as well as increase investment in strategic OEM partnerships, and advance our technology,” said Trevor Thompson, President of TerraClear.
Expanding Distribution and Sales teams
Sales in agriculture is built upon trust and face-to-face relationships. We continue to hire local representatives and work with distributors, ag retailers, and service providers who have established relationships in the farming communities we serve.
Increasing Investment in OEM Partnerships
Farming equipment is as diverse as farming practices themselves. To reduce friction and the need for new equipment – for both farmers and service providers – we continue to expand our partnerships with OEMs to make our technology solutions more accessible by bringing them to more platforms.
Advancing Our Technology
Rocks are just the beginning for TerraClear. We’ve collected data about soil conditions, debris, rocks, efficient path planning, and we have an extensible platform to expand datasets that translate farmer solutions into new areas. As we integrate our AI technology across high resolution data acquisition, decision support, and robotics, we gain a huge advantage in delivering tangible solutions for farmers.
Our mission is to free farmers from the worst jobs on the farm. While technology is rapidly opening up what’s possible in farming, we will never waiver in our commitment to solutions that work for farmers. We’re grateful that our investors believe in this mission as strongly as we do.
