Danish AgTech Startup Raises $1.1M for AI Tractor 'Eyes'

Jan de Vries · 2026-05-25

### A Smarter Eye on the Field Perplant, a Danish AgTech startup, just raised $1.1 million to put AI-powered “eyes” on tractors. The idea? Help farmers cut herbicide use by up to 90% and boost profits. It’s a big deal for sustainable farming. The funding came from private angel investors and industry leaders in agriculture and retail. Institutional support also came from the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark, plus project grants from the European Space Agency and Innovation Fund Denmark. That’s a vote of confidence from some serious players. ### How It Works Founded in 2022 by Rasmus Emil Hansen and Sumod Nandanwar, Perplant builds AI-driven infrastructure for farming. A box mounts on the tractor’s roof. As the tractor drives, AI scans the field in real time. It identifies every plant, spots groundwater-sensitive areas, and tells the sprayer exactly where to go. “Our AI documents the field’s variation, every single plant, and groundwater-sensitive areas. It removes bureaucracy and ensures we shut off the sprayer precisely over sensitive zones with centimeter precision,” says Hansen. This isn’t just about saving chemicals. It’s about making farming smarter. The system cuts herbicide use by up to 90% and fertilizer use by 30%. For an average 500-acre farm (about 200 hectares), that means an annual profit increase of roughly $39,000. The investment pays for itself in the first season.  ### Real Data, Real Impact Traditional satellite imagery gives you 33–98 feet resolution. Perplant’s sensors deliver 0.8–4 inches. That’s a huge leap. The system captures actual photos of each plant, creating verification-ready data for authorities, banks, and insurance companies. Perplant has already mapped over 494,000 acres across Europe. That’s nine times more data than all agricultural drones in Denmark combined for the same period. It’s the largest precision dataset in the Nordics. “No satellite or drone can deliver this level of detail at a scale that truly moves the global food chain. By making every tractor an intelligent data center, we create the factual foundation farmers and authorities desperately lack to document the green effort,” says Hansen. ### What’s Next? Perplant currently has 15 employees and operates in Denmark, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Spain, Ireland, and Chile. Plans for expansion to the USA are on the table. The company is backed by Antler, The Footprint Firm, and strategic business investors. This is a glimpse into the future of farming. AI isn’t just for tech startups anymore. It’s helping farmers grow more with less, and that’s something we can all get behind.