Guardian Agriculture

Guardian Agriculture (formerly Kiwi Technologies) offers drones to spray crop protection chemicals on fields. The company’s drone, the “Model SC1,” can cover upto 60 acres per hour in a session with a payload of upto 20 gallons (100 pounds). The company offers its drone systems starting from USD 119,000, and customers can reserve units by paying a USD 500 deposit. The drone will survey the field, prepare the required quantity of crop input, and fill the drone with it. The drone will then fly to the designated area and only return for refills or battery swaps. After the spraying, Guardian Agriculture will issue a report to farmers showing them how much of the chemical was sprayed, the relevant timings, and the area covered.

As of June 2023, Guardian Agriculture had secured commercial orders for its “SC1” drone, and, in June 2022 , the company also secured a multi-million dollar partnership with Wilbur Ellis, a US-based distributor and manufacturer of agricultural products, feed, and specialty chemicals, for the commercialization of Guardian Agriculture’s drones. The first orders were expected to ship to customers by 2023.

In April 2023, the company received approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) systems nationwide and reportedly became the first company to receive the approval.

In December 2023, Guardian has began operating four of its aviation-grade eVTOL aircraft, spraying crops in the Salinas Valley region of California and it is reported that the company has become the first eVTOL manufacturer to begin commercial operations. 

Funding and financials

In June 2023, Guardian Agriculture raised USD 20 million in a Series A funding round led by Fall Line Capital, to use the funds to expand its commercial operations nationwide and accelerate the ramp-up of large-scale manufacturing of its SC1 aircraft.