Bulgaria's Smart Farm Robotix gets 2.4 mln euro EU grant

The funding will support the company's technological progress, reducing the time it needs to introduce its weeding robot to the market, Smart Farm Robotix said in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday.

The robot uses AI for plant recognition, precision contact and contactless, non-chemical weeding. It can be used on hard soils, hilly terrains and arid climates.

The startup was one out of 42 companies awarded funding from a total of 1,083 full proposals submitted by the final 2023 EIC Accelerator cut-off date in November. The grant financing will be disbursed within the next two to three months, with investment decisions based on the urgency of the companies’ needs, the EIC said in a separate statement.

The EIC Accelerator programme provides startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with grants of up to 2.5 million euro combined with equity investments from the EIC Fund ranging between 500,000 and 15 million euro. Alongside financial support, the projects receive business acceleration services.

Sofia-based Smart Farm Robotix was founded in 2022 with the idea of creating an effective, pollution-free and scalable solution to transform weeding practices.

($ = 0.9237 euro)