Aerobotics

What Aerobotics does

Aerobotics is a South Africa-founded data analytics company that provides AI-powered yield forecasting and fruit quality intelligence to commercial tree crop growers, packers, and marketers. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Cape Town with a US contracting entity in Fresno, California, the company processes drone imagery (multispectral and thermal sensors), smartphone photographs, and weekly satellite data through proprietary machine learning and computer vision models on its Aeroview cloud platform to deliver per-tree and zone-level analytics. Its product suite spans the full fruit production lifecycle: TrueFruit Size for early-season smartphone-based fruit sizing from 10mm, TrueFruit Grade for automated color and blemish measurement, TrueFruit Bin Scan for post-harvest classification, Drone Scan for high-resolution aerial crop monitoring, and Pest & Disease for digitized scouting.

Aerobotics monetizes primarily through enterprise SaaS subscriptions structured per Order Form, complemented by a global network of certified drone partners who capture aerial data per acre. The platform is used by enterprise customers including Bee Sweet Citrus, Unifrutti, AC Foods, Southern Cross Farms, Fundo El Paraíso, and Viljoen Farms across citrus, blueberry, table grape, and stone fruit operations in South Africa, the United States, Peru, and Australia. Quantified customer outcomes include up to 5% packout improvement through size and quality targeting and a 30% efficiency increase in pest monitoring.

The company has assembled a strategic ecosystem: it integrates TrueFruit analytics into AgroFresh's FreshCloud post-harvest platform (November 2025), was selected for John Deere's 2026 Startup Collaborator Program, and spun off crop insurance capabilities as Insure.ag. Total disclosed funding is approximately $26.8M across seven rounds from 2017 to 2020, led most recently by a $16.5M Series B in December 2020 with Naspers Foundry, Cathay Innovation, FMO, and others. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and is handled through demo-based enterprise quoting.

Name

Aerobotics

Legal name

Aerobotics Proprietary Limited

Website

https://aerobotics.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Aerobotics is a Cape Town-based AI and computer vision company that delivers yield forecasting and fruit quality analytics to commercial tree crop growers, packers, and marketers worldwide using drone, smartphone, and satellite imagery processed on its Aeroview platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Precision Agriculture Software

NAICS

Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing (334511)

SIC

Agricultural Production-Crops (100), Farm Machinery & Equipment (3523)

akta.pro primary industry

Drone/UAV Data Capture & Processing Software (AFAAAFAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Aerial Surveying & Crop Scouting (Imaging, Mapping, Stand Counts) (AFACAIAJ)

Keywords

• Precision agriculture software
• Crop yield forecasting
• Drone aerial imagery
• Fruit quality analytics
• Orchard management platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Cape Town

HQ country

South Africa

HQ region

Africa

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Software Platform Subscription (SaaS): Aerobotics provides its AI-powered yield forecasting and fruit analytics platform as a cloud-based SaaS product. Growers, packers, and marketers subscribe to access TrueFruit Size, TrueFruit Grade, TrueFruit Bin Scan, Drone Scan, and Pest & Disease tools. The platform combines drone imagery, satellite data, and smartphone imagery analysis. Subscription is structured per Product/Order Form with different product options available.
2. Drone Data Collection Services: Aerobotics coordinates drone operations through its network of certified Drone Partners who capture multispectral and visual imagery for orchards and vineyards. Drone partners invoice Aerobotics per acre flown. The company pays per acre and earns from the data processing and analytics it provides to end customers on its platform.
3. Crop Insurance Solutions: Insure.ag was launched as an AI-optimized crop insurance agency backed by partnerships with Aerobotics, Yellowwoods, and Chronos Capital Advisors. Insure.ag was established after three years of developing Aerobotics Crop Insurance Solutions, suggesting Aerobotics derives revenue from providing aerial data and AI analytics for crop insurance underwriting and monitoring.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Aerobotics provides AI-powered yield forecasting and orchard intelligence for commercial fruit growers, packers, and marketers. The platform processes drone, satellite, and smartphone imagery through proprietary machine learning and computer vision algorithms to deliver per-tree and zone-level insights on fruit size, color, quality, pest pressure, and overall crop performance. It sells primarily as a cloud-based SaaS subscription with related drone data collection services via a certified pilot network.

Product overview

Aerobotics offers a unified platform architecture called Aeroview that delivers AI and computer vision-powered agricultural intelligence through multiple integrated products. The core product suite includes TrueFruit (Size, Grade, and Bin Scan) for smartphone-based and post-harvest fruit analysis, Drone Scan for aerial crop monitoring using multispectral and thermal sensors, and Pest & Disease for digitized pest trap monitoring. All products process data through proprietary machine learning algorithms and the Aeroview cloud platform which combines satellite, drone, and mobile imagery. The company also offers crop insurance services and a drone partner program with an associated flight planning app.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• TrueFruit: AI-powered fruit sizing, grading, and bin scanning product suite including TrueFruit Size, TrueFruit Grade, and TrueFruit Bin Scan.
• Drone Scan
• Pest & Disease
• Aeroview

Products and services

• TrueFruit Size AI-powered smartphone fruit sizing tool that converts a phone into a digital calliper, providing real-time, per-tree size measurements and early-season size forecasting for commercial fruit growers, packers, and marketers.
• TrueFruit Grade Automated fruit quality assessment using computer vision to objectively measure size, color, and blemishes, providing standardized grading for orchard-level quality control and packout optimization.
• TrueFruit Bin Scan Post-harvest automated size and quality classification system that categorizes harvested fruit into bins for packing, marketing, and supply chain optimization.
• Drone Scan High-resolution aerial crop monitoring service using drones equipped with multispectral cameras and thermal sensors, with AI-processed imagery delivering tree-level and zonal insights on crop health, performance, volume, and transpiration.
• Pest & Disease Mobile pest trap monitoring application that digitizes and geo-references trap data, syncs field scouting activity to the web platform, and enables centralized reporting and targeted treatment decisions across teams.
• Aerobotics Crop Insurance Solutions AI-optimized crop insurance offering backed by Aerobotics' aerial data and machine learning analytics, providing precise underwriting and risk monitoring for crop insurance products.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 5% increase in packouts by hitting target size and quality specifications
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• John Deere (Deere & Company)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 February 2026Aerobotics was selected as one of five startups for John Deere's 2026 Startup Collaborator Program (eighth cohort since 2019), focused on precision agriculture using drone imagery and computer vision technology. The program aims to explore how Aerobotics' drone-based crop analytics can deliver practical benefits for John Deere's agriculture and construction customers, deepening engagement between the startup and John Deere's core industries. The program is for collaborative testing rather than acquisitions.
• Insure.agminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 November 2025Insure.ag was launched as an independent AI-optimized crop insurance agency in the United States after three years of developing Aerobotics Crop Insurance Solutions, backed by partnerships with Aerobotics, Yellowwoods, and Chronos Capital Advisors. Aerobotics provides aerial data and AI analytics capabilities to support Insure.ag's precision crop insurance offerings for US farmers.
• AgroFresh SolutionscoreTechnology or Integration · 5 November 2025Aerobotics entered a strategic global partnership with AgroFresh Solutions to integrate its TrueFruit AI-powered orchard analytics (yield forecasting and blemish detection) into AgroFresh's FreshCloud digital platform for post-harvest produce quality and supply chain management. The collaboration enhances AgroFresh's ecosystem alongside existing partners Rubens Technologies, Strella, and Escavox, positioning FreshCloud as the most comprehensive digital produce quality platform in the fresh produce industry.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Taranis: Taranis provides AI-powered aerial crop intelligence using drones, satellites, and computer vision for crop monitoring and scouting. Like Aerobotics, it focuses on per-leaf-level insights and serves enterprise growers across multiple geographies, making it the closest direct competitor in drone-based precision agriculture analytics.
• VineView: VineView specializes in aerial imaging and data analytics for vineyards and high-value crops using manned aircraft and drone-based sensors. It targets a similar premium specialty-crop customer base with computer-vision-driven yield and health analytics.
• PrecisionHawk: PrecisionHawk offers drone-based data collection and aerial analytics for agriculture, energy, and other industries, including crop health mapping and stand counts. It overlaps with Aerobotics' Drone Scan and Aeroview offerings in drone-enabled farm intelligence.
• Sentera: Sentera provides drone imagery, sensors, and analytics for agriculture, including stand count, weed pressure, and crop health products. It serves enterprise agribusiness and seed companies with similar aerial-analytics and AI-driven decision support.
• Intelinair: Intelinair (formerly Mavrx) delivers aerial imagery analytics, including AGMRI for field-level crop monitoring using plane and drone imagery with computer vision. It is comparable to Aerobotics in providing AI-driven crop performance insights to commercial growers.

Broad incumbents

• DJI Agriculture: DJI Agriculture is the dominant drone hardware provider in agriculture, offering the Agras series for spraying/spreading and the Mavic/T platforms that Aerobotics' drone partners fly. As the upstream hardware and increasingly software platform, DJI represents both an enabling partner and a potential vertical competitor.
• Climate FieldView (Bayer): Climate FieldView is Bayer's flagship digital agriculture platform offering field-level data collection, yield analysis, and agronomic recommendations across row crops and increasingly specialty crops. It competes as a broad incumbent with the scale and grower relationships to encroach on Aerobotics' per-tree analytics niche.
• Granular (Corteva): Granular, owned by Corteva, provides farm management software and agronomy analytics for large commercial operations. It is comparable as a precision-agriculture enterprise software platform targeting similar enterprise grower customers, albeit with broader row-crop emphasis.

Emerging players

• CropX: CropX provides soil-sensor and data-driven irrigation/fertility optimization for specialty and row crops. While more soil-focused, it overlaps with Aerobotics in delivering AI-based agronomic insights to enterprise growers and could expand into aerial/satellite layers over time.
• GreenAtlas: GreenAtlas specializes in AI-based orchard mapping and yield forecasting using image analytics for specialty fruit crops. It addresses a similar niche to Aerobotics in specialty-crop computer vision, with comparable per-tree and per-block yield estimation capabilities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/aerobotics_intl

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds7 records

Investors19 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Aerobotics