Scythe Robotics raises $13.8M, announces all-electric autonomous mower

BOULDER — Scythe Robotics has emerged from stealth with a fully autonomous, all-electric commercial mower, the company announced Tuesday in a news release. 

It also announced the raising of $13.8 million in Series A funding, bringing its fundraising total to $18.6 million. The funding round was led by Inspired Capital with participation from Scythe’s existing investors: True Ventures, Zigg Capital and Lemnos.

Scythe was founded in 2018. The Scythe autonomous mower uses eight HDR cameras and a suite of sensors to detect and avoid people, animals and other obstacles. The mower will be offered on a model Scythe is calling Robot as a Service, which will operate similarly to SaaS models. Scythe customers will be billed by acres mowed rather than buying their machines outright.

The mower will also cut down on air pollution from gas mower emissions, which emit as much pollution in an hour as cars do over 100 miles. 

“To date, commercial landscape contractors haven’t had a technology partner who enables them to keep up with demand and to operate emissions-free. We are that partner,” Jack Morrison, Co-Founder and CEO of Scythe, said in a prepared statement. “Our autonomous mower gives them the ability to grow their business, while staying green. It’s designed from the ground up to be an order of magnitude more reliable, more productive, and safer than any existing machine by incorporating state of the art autonomy with a rugged, all-electric design.”

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