{"id":"9099e316-1939-414a-8fbf-35fd26bd602d","companyId":"b783af14-72ff-4f92-9b2c-bfee021e0e93","modelName":"Grover","slug":"iron-ox-grover","description":"Iron Ox (founded 2015, San Carlos, California; founder Brandon Alexander, with greenhouses in Gilroy, California and Lockhart, Texas) built autonomous robotic indoor and greenhouse hydroponic farming around Grover, an autonomous mobile robot launched in November 2021 that moved 1,000-pound hydroponic plant modules through greenhouses, paired with a scanning booth and robotic arms for plant handling. The registry records it at commercial maturity to reflect a genuine but small-scale historical peak: it actually sold produce, including leafy greens, strawberries, and tomatoes, into California retail such as Whole Foods, Bianchini's, and Mollie Stone's, so it was past pure demonstration, and it raised roughly 98 to 103 million dollars including a $53 million Series C led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures in 2021. The lifecycle state is discontinued because Iron Ox as a robotic-produce company is defunct: about fifty staff, nearly half, were laid off in November 2022, the entity rebranded to Inevitable Tech around June 2023 and pivoted from operating farms to selling agtech propagation technology, and secondary trackers record a formal cessation of operations dated June 30, 2024. Its Lockhart greenhouse was sold off, ultimately to Sensei Farms in September 2025, and ironox.com no longer serves a functioning company site. The funding total varies by source, so the 98-to-103-million range is used rather than a single figure, the cessation date comes from aggregators rather than primary press, and ADM as an investor could not be confirmed and is not asserted.","formFactor":"agriculture","maturityStage":"commercial","lifecycleState":"discontinued","supersededByModelId":null,"specs":{"notes":[{"label":"Verified (historical peak)","value":"Iron Ox (founded 2015, San Carlos CA; founder Brandon Alexander; greenhouses in Gilroy CA + Lockhart TX) built autonomous robotic indoor/greenhouse hydroponic farming around the Grover mobile robot (launched Nov 2021). It genuinely sold produce (leafy greens, strawberries, tomatoes) into California retail (Whole Foods, Bianchini's, Mollie Stone's), so it was early-commercial, not pure demonstration. Raised ~$98-103M ($53M Series C led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, 2021)."},{"label":"CURRENT STATUS (defunct / pivoted)","value":"Iron Ox as a robotic-produce company is DEFUNCT. ~50 staff (nearly half) laid off Nov 2022; the entity rebranded to Inevitable Tech (~Jun 2023), pivoting from operating farms to selling agtech propagation technology; secondary trackers record a formal cessation of operations dated 2024-06-30. The Lockhart greenhouse was sold off (ultimately to Sensei Farms, Sept 2025). ironox.com no longer serves a functioning company site. lifecycleState=discontinued."},{"label":"Verified-vs-claimed","value":"Funding total varies by source (~$98M / $103M / $102M); use the ~$98-103M range, do not assert a single figure. The 2024-06-30 cessation date is from aggregators (Crunchbase/Forge), not primary press; the operational wind-down was gradual (layoffs 2022 -> rebrand 2023 -> asset sale). ADM as an investor could NOT be confirmed; not asserted."}],"products":"Grover - an autonomous mobile robot that moved 1,000 lb hydroponic plant modules through greenhouses, paired with a scanning booth + robotic arms for plant handling","formFactor":"agriculture (autonomous indoor/greenhouse robotic farming: mobile module-transport robot + robotic arms)"},"manufacturerSerial":null,"reviewStatus":"reviewed","sources":[{"url":"https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/03/iron-ox-lays-off-50-amounting-to-nearly-half-its-staff/","title":"Iron Ox lays off ~50 (nearly half its staff) to extend runway (Nov 2022)","sourceName":"TechCrunch"},{"url":"https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/iron-ox-launches-grover-an-all-new-autonomous-mobile-robot-301413565.html","title":"Iron Ox launches Grover autonomous mobile robot (Nov 2021)","sourceName":"Iron Ox (PR Newswire)"},{"url":"https://www.crosslinkcapital.com/news/iron-ox-raises-53m-in-series-c-funding/","title":"Iron Ox raises $53M Series C (BEV-led; total ~$98M; Sept 2021)","sourceName":"Crosslink Capital"},{"url":"https://www.bluerhinocapital.com/news/its-inevitable","title":"Iron Ox rebrands to Inevitable Tech, pivots to selling agtech propagation systems (2023)","sourceName":"Blue Rhino Capital"},{"url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/18/iron-ox-is-disrupting-agriculture-with-robots-and-ai.html","title":"Iron Ox indoor robotic farming (commercial produce sales to CA retail)","sourceName":"CNBC"}],"aliases":["Iron Ox Grover","Iron Ox robot"],"collisionRisk":"low","reviewNote":null,"manufacturerTermForTeleop":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-03T17:58:40.008Z","updatedAt":"2026-06-03T17:58:40.008Z","jsonLd":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Product","@id":"https://registry.deploy.report/models/iron-ox-grover","url":"https://registry.deploy.report/models/iron-ox-grover","name":"Grover","alternateName":["Iron Ox Grover","Iron Ox robot"],"description":"Iron Ox (founded 2015, San Carlos, California; founder Brandon Alexander, with greenhouses in Gilroy, California and Lockhart, Texas) built autonomous robotic indoor and greenhouse hydroponic farming around Grover, an autonomous mobile robot launched in November 2021 that moved 1,000-pound hydroponic plant modules through greenhouses, paired with a scanning booth and robotic arms for plant handling. The registry records it at commercial maturity to reflect a genuine but small-scale historical peak: it actually sold produce, including leafy greens, strawberries, and tomatoes, into California retail such as Whole Foods, Bianchini's, and Mollie Stone's, so it was past pure demonstration, and it raised roughly 98 to 103 million dollars including a $53 million Series C led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures in 2021. The lifecycle state is discontinued because Iron Ox as a robotic-produce company is defunct: about fifty staff, nearly half, were laid off in November 2022, the entity rebranded to Inevitable Tech around June 2023 and pivoted from operating farms to selling agtech propagation technology, and secondary trackers record a formal cessation of operations dated June 30, 2024. Its Lockhart greenhouse was sold off, ultimately to Sensei Farms in September 2025, and ironox.com no longer serves a functioning company site. The funding total varies by source, so the 98-to-103-million range is used rather than a single figure, the cessation date comes from aggregators rather than primary press, and ADM as an investor could not be confirmed and is not asserted.","identifier":"9099e316-1939-414a-8fbf-35fd26bd602d","category":"agriculture","publisher":{"@id":"https://deploy.report/#organization"}}}