This Next Billion Dollar Startup Was Built To Save America s Farms With Tractorbots

Monarch CEO Praveen Penmetsa expects sales to triple or more this year as it gets its autonomous electric tractors in the hands of farmers, earning the Livermore, Californiabased company a coveted spot on our annual list of the Next BillionDollar Startups. But launching an agricultural equipment company is tough. It is capitalintensive, and cashstrapped farmers tend to be a conservative lot resistant to change. But Livermorebased Monarch, which has raised 116 million in equity from investors and reached a valuation of 271 million at its most recent equity funding in November 2021, seems to have hit a tipping point. Last year, it booked 22 million in revenue, up from 5 million in 2021. This year Penmetsa expects revenue to increase three to fivefold. That would bring it above 66 million, and possibly over 100 million, as the number of its tractors in the field goes from more than 100 to 1, 000. As it expands, Penmetsa expects that more of its revenue will come fr