FarmBot Inc is currently owned according to the capitalization table below.

Founder Stock Type Shares %
Rory Aronson Common 8,550,000 95
Tim Evers Common 450,000 5
Total   9,000,000 100

Seed investment

In early 2014 Rory was named a Shuttleworth Foundation Fellow and received a $125,000 philanthropic grant to continue work on FarmBot. The funding was instrumental for the team to focus and bring FarmBot to market in mid-2016 with the introduction of FarmBot Genesis. Because FarmBot Inc was incorporated later than 6 months after the fellowship period ended, the Shuttleworth Foundation took no stake in the company per the fellowship contract.

Series A

Shortly after the launch of FarmBot Genesis XL in December of 2017, Rory decided to explore raising a Series A investment round to help accelerate the development of FarmBot and smooth the capital requirements for increasingly large manufacturing runs.

After initial discussions with several interested investors and investment groups through the middle of 2018, Rory decided against raising investment at the time. Promising financial modeling, a clear pathway to more significant growth with new product releases, and the desire to maintain as much autonomy as possible with the business guided the decision.

We have not ruled out the possibility of fundraising in the future. If you would like to be notified if we embark on another fundraising exploration, please contact rory@farmbot.io.

Co-founder buyout

In early 2022, co-founder Rick Carlino departed the company. As part of his exit, Rory Aronson agreed to purchase Rick’s 900,000 common stock shares at a mutually agreed upon value determined by a 3rd party appraiser.