HarvestX
About
About HarvestX
HarvestX packages indoor-farm equipment, cultivation recipes, robots and operating software into a strawberry-production system. Its XV3 robot consists of an autonomous cart and replaceable sensor-and-arm units; operators can configure one to five vertical tiers without redesigning the base machine, then exchange units as monitoring, pollination and harvesting functions evolve.
Computer vision estimates flower position, orientation and fruit maturity, guiding a brush to distribute pollen across the pistil and feeding flowering and growth data into yield forecasts. This replaces bee colonies that can struggle in closed artificial-light farms and gives growers direct control over pollination frequency and hygiene. HarvestX began offering automated monitoring and pollination in 2023, operates a demonstration farm in Hamamatsu and is extending the platform toward integrated harvesting and broader cultivation support.
Articles
Products
- XV3
XV3
Deployments
- Customer site
2024-11-20 - HarvestX announced its first commercial implementation of automated strawberry cultivation at Hamamatsu Farm with Shunkado. - HarvestX strawberry cultivation solution - Hamamatsu Farm
Source
Funding
- 2026-07-06 - Strategic investment - HarvestX signs Mitsubishi Corporation investment partnership
HarvestX signed an investment agreement with Mitsubishi Corporation to support plant-factory automation, multi-crop expansion and global deployment of its AI robotics systems. - source: prtimes.jp
- 2024-03-20 - Pre-Series A - $2.6M - HarvestX raises 410 million yen in pre-Series A funding
source: harvestx.jp
- 2022-03-30 - Seed - $969K - HarvestX secures a total of 150 million yen in funding
source: harvestx.jp
- 2021-01-18 - Seed - $323K - HarvestX raises a total of 50 million yen in funding
source: harvestx.jp
Investors
- ANRI No.4 Investment Limited Partnership - Participant - VC - 3 funding events - repeat backer - first seen 2021-01-18 - latest 2024-03-20
- Open Innovation Promotion No. 1 Investment Limited Partnership - Participant - VC - 3 funding events - repeat backer - first seen 2021-01-18 - latest 2024-03-20
- DEEPCORE TOKYO No.2 Investment Limited Partnership - Participant - VC - 2 funding events - repeat backer - first seen 2022-03-30 - latest 2024-03-20
- Dawn Capital No.1 Investment Limited Partnership - Participant - VC - 1 funding event - first seen 2024-03-20
- HULIC Startup No.1 Investment Limited Partnership - Participant - VC - 1 funding event - first seen 2024-03-20
- Keisuke Sogawa - Participant - Angel / Individual - 1 funding event - first seen 2021-01-18
- Kunihiro Tanaka - Participant - Angel / Individual - 1 funding event - first seen 2021-01-18
- Mitsubishi Corporation - Lead - Corporate / CVC - 1 funding event - strategic/corporate - first seen 2026-07-06
- Shinkin-Yaramaika Investment Limited Partnership - Participant - VC - 1 funding event - first seen 2024-03-20
- Shinsei Venture Partners II Investment Limited Partnership - Participant - VC - 1 funding event - first seen 2024-03-20
- SMBC Venture Capital Industry-Academia Collaboration No.3 Investment Limited Partnership - Participant - VC - 1 funding event - first seen 2024-03-20
- Soichiro Kawai - Participant - Angel / Individual - 1 funding event - first seen 2021-01-18
- The Future of Food 1st Investment Limited Partnership - Participant - VC - 1 funding event - first seen 2024-03-20
Team
- Yuki Ichikawa - Chief Executive Officer - Leads HarvestX as it commercializes robotic pollination and automated strawberry cultivation systems for indoor farms.
Timeline
Events
- 2026-07-06 - Funding - HarvestX signs Mitsubishi Corporation investment partnership
Mitsubishi Corporation became a strategic investor in HarvestX. HarvestX builds AI robotics for plant-factory automation, including automated pollination and precision robot-arm workflows. The agreement follows HarvestX's March 2026 capital and business alliance with Sumitomo Corporation.
Source - 2026-03-25 - Partnership - Sumitomo Corporation enters capital and business alliance with HarvestX
Sumitomo Corporation entered a capital and business alliance with HarvestX around AI-powered automated pollination robots and plant-factory automation. Sumitomo said the alliance would support stable food production and global automation solutions for controlled-environment agriculture. The announcement explicitly identified HarvestX as developing and selling pollination and harvesting robots for plant factories.
Source - 2024-11-20 - Deployment - HarvestX announces first commercial implementation of its automated strawberry cultivation solution at Hamamatsu Farm
HarvestX announced that Shunkado would implement HarvestX as the world's first commercial application at Hamamatsu Farm. The company said the pilot plant had been established in May 2024 with support from Hamamatsu City and Hamamatsu Iwata Shinkin Bank. HarvestX framed the site as a foothold for sales expansion to plant factories struggling with strawberry production and companies entering the category.
Source - 2024-03-20 - Funding - HarvestX raises 410 million yen in pre-Series A funding
HarvestX announced 410 million yen in pre-Series A funding for its automated strawberry cultivation solution. The company said the round would support further R&D and the buildout of a demonstration facility equipped with HarvestX. HarvestX said the financing brought total funds raised to date to 610 million yen.
Source - 2023-11-06 - Facility Opening - HarvestX opens new branch office in Hamamatsu City
HarvestX established a Hamamatsu office to strengthen business expansion for its automated strawberry cultivation system. The company said the region's strong strawberry production base would help it understand grower needs and provide more tailored solutions. HarvestX framed the move as part of a two-base structure with Tokyo and Hamamatsu to accelerate product and solution development.
Source - 2022-12-21 - Product Launch - HarvestX announces sequential rollout of its automated strawberry cultivation solution from summer 2023
HarvestX announced that it would begin offering its automated strawberry cultivation solution from summer 2023. The company said the new XV3 robot improved work efficiency and scalability versus earlier demonstration models. HarvestX positioned the solution around automating plant management, pollination, and harvesting in indoor vertical farms.
Source - 2022-03-30 - Partnership - HarvestX partners with National Institute of Technology, Tokuyama College
HarvestX partnered with National Institute of Technology, Tokuyama College and established its second office within the college to start joint research. The collaboration was framed around accelerating development of a more efficient pollinating attachment toward fully automated agriculture. HarvestX also said the arrangement would provide students with direct access to cutting-edge technical information and practical engineering opportunities.
Source - 2022-03-30 - Funding - HarvestX secures a total of 150 million yen in funding
HarvestX announced 150 million yen in funding to support hardware and software development for demonstration tests with indoor farming partners. The company said the round would also support efforts to improve pollination accuracy through real-world farm testing. The funding was positioned around moving the automated strawberry cultivation system closer to practical deployment.
Source - 2021-11-15 - Product Launch - HarvestX launches XV2 automatic pollinating and harvesting robot prototype
HarvestX released XV2, a new automatic pollinating and harvesting robot prototype built for indoor vertical farms. The company said XV2 improved mobility and efficiency over the earlier prototype and added magnetic-guidance autonomous driving and tray-changing functionality. HarvestX positioned XV2 as a step toward higher adaptability to real cultivation environments.
Source - 2021-06-21 - Facility Opening - HarvestX establishes HarvestX Lab for robotic systems R&D
HarvestX established HarvestX Lab at the University of Tokyo Entrepreneur Lab as an R&D facility for fully automated strawberry cultivation robot systems. The company said the lab would let it run year-round testing and speed up verification and evaluation cycles for its robotic systems. HarvestX also said the facility would help reduce the gap between development conditions and real indoor-farm operating environments.
Source - 2021-01-18 - Funding - HarvestX raises a total of 50 million yen in funding
HarvestX announced a total of 50 million yen in funding to advance its automated pollination and harvesting robotics work for indoor farms. The company said the funding would support hardware and software development for demonstration tests with partner indoor farming companies. HarvestX also said the funding would be used to improve pollination accuracy through real-world testing at indoor vertical farms.
Source
Relations
Relationships
- National Institute of Technology, Tokuyama College
Technology Partner - HarvestX has a public partnership relationship with National Institute of Technology, Tokuyama College.
Context
Comparable profiles
- Four Growers
comparable profile - Greenhouse Crop Robotics
- Canopii
comparable profile - Greenhouse Crop Robotics
- Tevel
stack adjacency - Agricultural Robot Oem · Crop Level Perception · Plant Targeted Actuation · Soft Crop Handling
- Fieldwork Robotics
stack adjacency - Agricultural Robot Oem · Crop Level Perception · Plant Targeted Actuation · Soft Crop Handling
- Floating Robotics
stack adjacency - Soft Crop Handling
- Naïo Technologies
stack adjacency - Agricultural Robot Oem · Plant Targeted Actuation
- Earth Rover
stack adjacency - Agricultural Robot Oem · Crop Level Perception
- Tortuga AgTech
stack adjacency - Agricultural Robot Oem · Crop Level Perception
- Greenfield Robotics
stack adjacency - Agricultural Robot Oem
- Vitirover
stack adjacency - Agricultural Robot Oem
- Daedong Robotics
stack adjacency - Agricultural Robot Oem
- E-TERRY
stack adjacency - Agricultural Robot Oem
Context tags
- Greenhouse crop robotics - Peer Group - HarvestX builds robotic pollination systems for greenhouse environments.
- Robotic pollination - Workflow - HarvestX develops robotic strawberry pollination technology.
- Robot OEM - Stack Layer - Profile source supports this robotics context.
- Plant-targeted actuation - Capability - HarvestX actuates at the flower level for pollination.
- Agricultural robot OEM - Stack Layer - HarvestX builds complete robotic greenhouse systems.
- Soft crop handling - Capability - HarvestX handles delicate strawberry crops.
- Robotic fruit picking - Workflow - HarvestX robots detect and interact with strawberry-level fruit.
- Crop-level perception - Capability - HarvestX uses vision for flower and fruit detection.
- Greenhouses or indoor farms - Customer Environment - HarvestX targets greenhouse and controlled-environment agriculture.