# Four Growers

Canonical page: https://technooptimist.io/companies/four-growers
Pittsburgh startup whose robots pick ripe tomatoes in commercial greenhouses, using stereo cameras, AI and a suction gripper on an industrial arm. Its robots work in the Netherlands and Canada.

## In brief

- Raised a $9M Series A in Dec 2024 led by Basset Capital ($15M total).
- Robots harvest at Westburg (Netherlands) and Nature Fresh Farms (Canada).
- Claims up to 50% labour savings; a cucumber robot without suction is next.

## Facts

- Founded: 2018
- Headquarters: US
- Status: private
- Raised: $9M
- Website: https://fourgrowers.com
- Frontiers: [Agriculture](https://technooptimist.io/agriculture.md) (Harvesting robots), [Robotics](https://technooptimist.io/robotics.md)

## Programs

- [GR-100 Tomato Harvester](https://technooptimist.io/agriculture/gr-100.md) (Agriculture): Deploy; next: Cucumber-harvesting robot (2026). Commercial fleet harvesting at Dutch grower Westburg since late 2025; systems also run in Canada.

## Technical approach

- **Vision: Stereo cameras judge ripeness**: Four stereo cameras give the robot depth; its AI decides which tomatoes are ripe and healthy and plans a path to each.
- **Picking: Suction on a FANUC arm**: A vacuum gripper on a FANUC LR Mate arm pulls the fruit off without squeezing it; grippers can be swapped for other crops.
- **Data: Every plant scanned weekly**: While it works the robot maps the crop, building yield heatmaps and forecasts from seeing each plant two to three times a week.

## Open problems

- **Matching human picking speed** (partially solved): An early machine took 25 seconds per tomato, against about one second for a skilled picker; speed decides whether robots pay.
- **Crops beyond tomatoes** (active research): Cucumbers and peppers need different grippers and vision models; the cucumber robot will not use suction.

## Latest updates

- **13 Nov 2025**: First fleet of Four Growers tomato-harvesting robots goes to work at Dutch grower Westburg. Several Four Growers robots are now harvesting snack, plum and cherry tomatoes at Westburg's greenhouse in the Netherlands. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/first-fleet-of-four-growers-tomato-harvesting-robots-goes-to-work-at-5c17d1a2.md) · [original source](https://www.hortidaily.com/article/9784868/first-fleet-of-tomato-harvesting-robots-operating-in-dutch-greenhouse/))
- **5 Dec 2024**: Four Growers raises a $9M Series A led by Basset Capital to scale its GR-100 tomato-harvesting robot. Pittsburgh-based Four Growers closed a $9 million Series A led by Basset Capital, with Y Combinator and Ospraie Ag Science, bringing its total to $15 million. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/four-growers-raises-a-9m-series-a-led-by-basset-capital-to-scale-its-gr-9aef291f.md) · [original source](https://globalaginvesting.com/four-growers-secures-9m-in-series-a-round-for-ai-powered-crop-harvesting-robots/))
- **2022**: Nature Fresh Farms partners with Four Growers to harvest greenhouse tomatoes by robot. Nature Fresh Farms, one of North America's largest greenhouse growers, in Leamington, Ontario, began working with Four Growers on robotic tomato harvesting. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/nature-fresh-farms-partners-with-four-growers-to-harvest-greenhouse-d9b34b48.md) · [original source](https://www.fanucamerica.com/case-studies/nature-fresh-farms-revolutionizes-tomato-harvesting-with-robots-ai))

## Funding

| Date | Round | Amount | Post-money | Leads |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dec 2024 | Series A | $9M |   | Basset Capital |

## Partners, customers and investors

- Nature Fresh Farms (customer): Ontario greenhouse grower; partnered with Four Growers in 2022 for robotic tomato harvesting.
- Westburg (customer): Dutch tomato grower running the first fleet of Four Growers robots (2025).
- Syngenta (partner): A system runs at Syngenta's TomatoVision facility in the Netherlands.
- FANUC (supplier): Supplies the LR Mate 200iD/7L robot arm; Four Growers is a FANUC authorized integrator.
- Basset Capital (investor): Led the $9M Series A (Dec 2024).
- Y Combinator (investor)

## People

- Brandon Contino, Co-founder & CEO
- Dan Chi, Co-founder & CTO

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