Monarch Tractor CEO says $133M raise will help it escape 'quite a challenging time'

Monarch Tractor was in a tricky spot late last year as the autonomous electric tractor startup juggled growth and an uncertain fundraising environment. Now, with $133 million in new funds, CEO Praveen Penmetsa tells TechCrunch that the startup is plowing ahead into greener pastures. 

The $133 million Series C funding round was co-led by agri-food tech impact firm Astanor and HH-CTBC Partnership L.P., an affiliate fund of Foxconn. The new round values the startup at more than $500 million. Monarch has raised $220 million to date.

Monarch has integrated technology into electric tractors that offer customers a variety of automated driving features. The company has about 400 tractors in the field right now being used by customers, according to Penmetsa, who said the fresh funding round will help Monarch start “producing more tractors, supporting our customers through our sales and service side of things as well, and then continuing to expand into more states.”

That expansion is coming with some changes. The company recently laid off some workers, TechCrunch has learned. Penmetsa said the cuts were “less than” 15% of Monarch’s 250- to 300-person workforce and were part of a necessary reshuffling as the young company looks to support its growth — especially on the after sales and service side.

Penmetsa said part of Monarch’s business wasn’t really keeping up with the number of tractors it put out into the world. Monarch’s output grew in 2023 alongside its geographic footprint as the startup shifted away from its initial market of vineyards and fruit farms in California and started working with dairy farms, airports and other customers across the country.

“We didn’t have enough coverage in those areas in the early days,” he admitted.

Those struggles, combined with delays in the fundraising process — thanks in part to a much weaker overall investment cadence in agtech overall, according to data from PitchBook — made the back half of 2023 “quite a challenging time for Monarch,” Penmetsa said.

But Penmetsa believes that has turned around. Earlier this year, Monarch rebuilt its service and support teams.

“Our customers are saying your service and support now in these six months is better than the [prior] six months,” Penmetsa said. That increased support has helped lead to 15% of Monarch’s customers coming back to the startup to buy more tractors — a number Penmetsa says is above the company’s initial expectations.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s a number that I wish was higher, like any CEO, and I think as we continue this fundraise will really help us invest into sales,” he said. “This fundraise is going to allow us to really give confidence to our dealers that we are here for the long term, and that, you know, we are here to support our products, and that they should also join the movement in getting these tractors out to farmers.”