North East-based robotics trailblazer Wootzano has smashed its crowdfunding target, igniting a new wave of enthusiasm in the agritech world. The innovative provider of food packing systems has astonishingly raised over £380,000 – with an electrifying promise of an extra £200,000 on the horizon.
The company’s bold Crowdcube campaign, launched just last year with a target of nearly £358,000, created a buzz that resonated far and wide. Exceeding expectations, an impressive 120 backers rallied behind the mission, contributing a staggering total of £381,216. Moreover, the firm has hooked up with notable US investor Danjaq LLC, poised to inject a further £200,000 directly into its cutting-edge endeavours.
This remarkable fundraising milestone comes on the back of a series of multimillion-pound deals that have catapulted Wootzano to the forefront of global agritech. In a thrilling announcement last November, the Tyneside-based Business of the Year at the 2024 North East Business Awards revealed a high-stakes partnership with Malaysian consultancy VCI Global. The deal, believed to be worth a jaw-dropping £30m, will see Wootzano’s flagship Avarai robot revolutionising the Malaysian market.
At the time of its Crowdcube launch, Wootzano’s leadership committed to deploying the funds into groundbreaking product development and expanding the firm’s intellectual property. The company proudly holds 16 patents granted across more than 30 applications, including fierce protection for its pioneering electronic skin technology. This cutting-edge innovation is the secret sauce behind the robots’ unmatched ability to handle soft fruit and vegetables with the gentle care needed to avoid any damage.
The sensational electronic skin endows Wootzano’s robot arms with an almost human-like sensitivity, enabling them to sense, pick up, and pack produce with uncanny precision and speed. The company boasts that its streamlined system occupies roughly the same space as a human on a packing line, yet it promises to drive productivity through the roof.
Aimed squarely at large food companies battling labour shortages, Wootzano’s technology is already making headlines. The firm is even exploring how its system can be applied to harvesting food crops, with pioneering research underway as part of the £9.13m Agri-OpenCore programme led by a leading UK tomato producer under DEFRA’s Farming Innovation Programme.
In the last two years, Wootzano’s visionary approach has unlocked a treasure trove of high-value deals. One standout agreement includes a monumental five-year, £161m deal announced in March 2024 with agriculture energy titan Xcela Inc, set to supply robots for Ontario’s vine tomato growing industry. But the excitement doesn’t stop there – thrilling agreements in California and Japan are also underway. In California, the robots target the vast grape-growing industry, while in Japan, the Avarai robots are destined for business near Nagoya and for packing the prized ‘amaou’ strawberries.
Fuelled by such extraordinary growth, Wootzano recently made a dramatic move from Sedgefield to North Tyneside. The company has taken up residence in the former Siemens space at Cobalt Business Park, with plans to potentially expand into adjacent areas at the Cobalt 9B building. This bold relocation marks just the beginning of what promises to be a groundbreaking era for Wootzano and the agritech landscape as a whole.