Agricultural autonomy company Sabanto has secured an oversubscribed Series B funding round led by Leaps by Bayer, the venture capital and strategic investment arm of Bayer, as the German agribusiness giant strengthens its focus on technologies that can improve farm profitability and support more sustainable production systems.
Financial details of the round were not disclosed. Other participants included Sustainable Forward Capital, InnoVenture Iowa, Fulcrum Global Capital, DCVC and Yara.
The investment will be used to accelerate adoption of Sabanto’s autonomous technology, expand its customer base and further develop its retrofit autonomy kits across North America and international markets.
“This investment represents a major step forward in bringing practical autonomy to more farms,” said Craig Rupp, CEO and founder of Sabanto.
For Bayer, however, the investment is about more than simply backing another agricultural robotics company.
The company believes Sabanto’s approach addresses some of the most pressing challenges facing growers today, from escalating machinery costs and labour shortages to the need for more precise and sustainable farming practices.
Why Bayer chose Sabanto
According to Paimun Amini, Vice President of Agriculture Venture Investments at Leaps by Bayer, the decision to invest came down to three key factors: the technology itself, the scalability of the business model and confidence in Sabanto’s leadership team.
“For us, this is a combination of a three-part belief in the technology, scale of the business model and executive team at Sabanto,” Amini told AgNavigator.
“Few founders have Craig’s history as a successful entrepreneur, and he’s built an amazing team around him.”
Amini said Bayer was particularly attracted by the fact that Sabanto has already commercialised hundreds of retrofit systems and continues to improve its platform through data and feedback gathered from customers.
“Sabanto has hundreds of retrofit models already commercial and continuously learns and improves from their customer network for which we see fierce loyalty and willingness to scale,” he said.
The company was also impressed by Sabanto’s ability to make autonomy work economically in row crop systems, where margins can often be tight.
“Sabanto created a system that works in row crops that can have challenging unit economics, making those farms more profitable going forward.”
Betting on retrofits rather than bigger machines
One of the key attractions for Bayer is Sabanto’s belief that the future of autonomy does not necessarily depend on ever-larger agricultural machinery.
While many OEMs continue to focus on larger and more expensive equipment, Sabanto’s platform converts existing tractors into autonomous machines, allowing growers to extend operating hours without making major capital investments.
The company argues that this lower-cost approach can help farmers remain competitive at a time when many are facing mounting economic pressure.
“We believe the workhorse of the future is smaller equipment,” Rupp said. “Our retrofit approach allows farmers to shift labour toward higher-value tasks, increase operating hours and ultimately focus on growing their business and their bottom line.
“We’re seeing too many farms fold under economic pressure, and our solution levels the playing field.”
By operating autonomously during planting and other field operations, the technology allows machinery to work virtually around the clock while reducing reliance on seasonal labour.
Sabanto believes this will increasingly allow farm operators to redeploy skilled workers into logistics, agronomic decision-making and business growth activities.
Proof that autonomy can scale
Amini said another factor distinguishing Sabanto from competing autonomy providers was the scale at which customers are already deploying the technology.
“One of the Sabanto customers was running over 20 of these systems simultaneously,” he said.
“This shows the power for larger farms and the flexibility that comes with an autonomous fleet when handling logistics.”
For Bayer, this demonstrates that autonomy is moving beyond pilot projects and into real-world commercial farm operations.
The ability to retrofit multiple existing machines also offers growers a potentially more flexible and affordable route into automation compared with purchasing entirely new autonomous equipment fleets.
Supporting regenerative agriculture ambitions
Beyond labour efficiency and profitability, Bayer sees a strong sustainability case for the technology.
Leaps by Bayer said the investment aligns closely with Bayer’s long-term objectives around improving resource efficiency, advancing regenerative agriculture and supporting solutions that benefit both farmers and the environment.
One of the most significant advantages, according to Bayer, is the ability to use smaller, lighter machines that can reduce soil compaction compared with larger conventional equipment.
Less soil compaction can improve water infiltration, root development and long-term soil health, helping maintain productivity over time.
Autonomous operation can also improve machine efficiency by minimising overlaps, reducing idle time and creating more consistent field routes, potentially lowering fuel consumption.
At the same time, Sabanto’s autonomy platform is designed to work alongside precision agriculture tools and increasingly intelligent implements, helping farmers improve fertiliser placement, seeding accuracy and crop protection applications.
Bayer believes that combining autonomy with precision agriculture technologies could reduce input waste while lowering production costs and environmental impacts.
Physical AI for the farm
Ultimately, Bayer sees autonomous machinery as part of a broader transformation being driven by artificial intelligence.
“We believe that AI, and in this case physical AI, is a major unlock for farmers,” said Amini.
“One of our focus areas is around securing the livelihood of farmers and their financial stability.”
He added that investments in technologies such as Sabanto can help farmers improve liquidity, address labour shortages and adopt productivity-enhancing technologies more confidently.
“The enablement of autonomy for smaller tractors allows for the reduction of soil compaction and greater long-term soil health as well.”
