advanced.farm halts work on its robotic apple harvester and cancels its 2025 Washington season for lack of funding

CNH Industrial (Case IH / New Holland, Raven)/Robotic Apple Harvester

Davis, California startup advanced.farm closed and laid off its team after failing to raise money for another season, scrapping plans to pick apples in Washington in 2025. Founder and CEO Kyle Cobb called it a pause and said the company needed $5–10 million over two seasons to reach a viable commercial product.

• Cause: tighter budgets among venture investors and farmers, plus a downturn in the apple industry
• The Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission, a funder, said the robot made significant progress in fall 2024
• Cobb said work could resume if new investment arrived soon