Originals · Startup · Startups & Fintech
Harvested Robotics builds a tractor-mounted AI laser weeder for Indian farms
The Hyderabad startup, backed by Anand Mahindra and Arali Ventures, uses cameras and blue lasers to kill weeds without chemicals.
Harvested Robotics, founded in Hyderabad in 2023 by Rahul Arepaka and George Mathew, is building Rakshak, a laser weeding system that attaches to a tractor. Cameras running an AI model spot weeds, and high-power lasers moved by robotic actuators fire at them while the tractor keeps moving, Arepaka told Inc42.
In March 2025 the company raised Rs 5 Cr in a pre-seed round led by Arali Ventures, with Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra and Country Delight co-founder Chakradhar Gade taking part, Inc42 reported. In March 2026, NDTV Profit reported that Mahindra University had invested in the startup and housed it at its on-campus incubator, after Anand Mahindra highlighted the founders on X.
NITI Aayog's Frontier Tech hub reports that Rakshak uses blue lasers, detects weeds with 90% accuracy and tracks them with 5 mm precision, and puts its price at Rs 10 lakh. It says manual weeding can cost farmers up to Rs 60,000 a season. Arepaka told Inc42 the product could cut weeding costs by 40 to 50%. These are company and government figures; large-scale field results have not yet been published.
