BloomX raises $13m Series A to sell robot pollination as a service, with US almond and blueberry growers next

Israeli agtech company BloomX has raised a $13 million Series A led by Elah Fund to expand its robotic pollination systems and prepare for the US market, the company said on Oct 15, according to Pulse 2.0.

MEKAWIRE did not find a release on BloomX's own site, so the round terms are as reported and not stored as a verified funding round. Rothschild Fund, Sadot Innovation, Tene Fund, OurCrowd, BioBee, several kibbutz and grower groups, private investors and the Israel Innovation Authority joined, the report said, taking total funding since the company was founded in 2019 to $20 million.

BloomX sells two systems on a pollination-as-a-service basis so growers avoid buying equipment: Robee, which imitates bumblebee buzz pollination on blueberries with controlled vibration, and Yahav 2400, launched commercially this year for avocado orchards, which uses high-voltage electrodes to lift pollen onto a bee-like textile and carry it to female flowers.

The company claims average yield gains of about 20% and returns of up to 10.5 times, figures it has not published with a method; one operator covers up to 3.5 hectares a day, it said. The money goes to its core markets of Peru, Mexico, South Africa and Israel, then the US, more of Latin America and new crops including almonds and blueberries.

Named customers include ACP and Fruitist in Peru, Allesbeste in South Africa and Israel's Granot Group, and the company has 19 employees. In MEKAWIRE's coverage, farm robotics funding this year has been dominated by tractor autonomy and field robots such as Daedong's KRW 43.1bn unmanned-farm programme in Korea; BloomX is a bet on a single crop input rather than a whole machine.