Autonomous lawn mower software company Greenzie has closed a $500,000 investment from strategic institutional and angel investors. Original investor Atlanta Ventures, led by David Cummings, led the round.
Greenzie is the first startup launched by Atlanta Ventures’ Studio program, which provides its in-house entrepreneurs with initial capital and resources to build their companies.
This funding included TechSquare Labs, host of the quarterly Atlanta Startup Battle pitch competition. Greenzie was crowned as one of two winners of the competition this past spring, taking home a $100,000 investment.
Additional investors include: Matt Lowe, Chairman of field service platform SingleOps; Dan Campbell, founder of staffing company HireDynamics; David Lightburn of Atlanta Ventures; Carswell Distributing Company; and Kyle Porter, founder of SalesLoft.
Greenzie founder Charles Brian Quinn explains that the funding round comes as the Greenzie product readies itself for its first real test: a mowing season. In a blog post, he says “the demo went great, we had immense traction, our product and prototype was clipping along, and we were hitting our milestones.”
“We just needed a season of mowing.”
The startup will tackle their first customers with a service called Greenzie Go, targeted toward commercial lawn care companies. Greenzie’s cloud-based software, when attached to commercial mowers via a retrofit kit, essentially transforms the traditional machine into an autonomous vehicle, allowing it to perform lawn “striping” on autopilot.
Once the striping — the clipping of grass in neat rows across large areas — is complete, the lawn care workers step in to complete the job with edging, weeding, and leaf blowing. Quinn is adamant that the product will not replace human jobs, but rather improve efficiency for workers.
Jacey Lucus, Atlanta Ventures’ Marketing Lead, tells Hypepotamus that the startup already has companies in the pipeline for the first Greenzie Go pilots. The team claims that it lowers costs for customers to about 70 percent of the current average.
As the team refines their product and service, they continue to grow. Quinn plans to hire additional developers this year and is actively seeking those interested in robotics.
“Greenzie represents one of the boldest visions and most talented teams that I’ve had the opportunity to work with,” says Cummings in a statement, “and I can’t wait to see them fulfill their mission.”
Photos provided by Atlanta Ventures/Greenzie
