In an update to a story we reported last week, it appears the assets of electric tractor maker Monarch Tractor are being acquired.
According to a report from Bloomberg, Caterpillar is set to acquire the assets of the California based business. Monarch had announced earlier this month on LinkedIn that they would be closing their doors.
In their original social media post, Monarch alluded to a potential acquisition saying that they were “happy to share that Monarch’s core technology, including our software-defined vehicle platform, perception stack, and electrification systems, has been acquired by a large global equipment manufacturer. It means the technology will continue to move forward.”
Monarch, which was once valued at over half a billion dollars, was founded in 2018 by a Silicon Valley engineer, Tesla veteran and Carlo Mondavi (grandson of winemaker Robert Mondavi). They had promised to revolutionize farming with the world’s first fully electric, autonomous tractor.
Monarch came under legal scrutiny after a dealer in Idaho invested over $773,000 in 10 of the company’s flagship model MKV tractors, only to discover the machines couldn’t deliver on Monarch’s promises as autonomous features were severely limited and tractors couldn’t function indoors.
