Perplant raises €1 million to equip tractors with AI “eyes” to cut herbicide use and boost profits for farmers

Danish AgTech startup Perplant has secured €1 million in investment to further develop its AI-powered system for agricultural machinery. This funding will enable the company to enhance its technology, which aims to significantly reduce herbicide and fertilizer usage on farms through precise, real-time application. The investment highlights growing confidence in AI's potential to drive sustainability and profitability within the European agricultural sector. Perplant's innovative solution involves mounting Edge AI sensors, described as "eyes," onto tractors. These sensors utilize artificial intelligence to scan fields at a highly granular level, identifying individual plants and sensitive areas. This enables tractors to spray herbicides and fertilizers only where necessary, achieving reductions of up to 90% for herbicides and 30% for fertilizers, with centimeter-level precision. The system generates detailed, verification-ready data, offering a significant upgrade from traditional satellite imagery. The implications of Perplant's technology extend to both farmers and regulatory bodies, fostering greater agricultural efficiency and environmental stewardship. For an average 200-hectare farm, the projected annual profit increase is around €36,000, with the investment typically recouped within the first season. This advancement also supports European goals for digital sovereignty in agriculture, by providing a localized, high-resolution data capture and processing capability. Perplant has already mapped over 200,000 hectares across Europe, creating a substantial precision farming dataset.