Unfunded with Joan Westenberg
About Steve Scheding
Dr Steve Scheding is the founder of Green Atlas, an agtech company whose multi-camera imaging platform maps flowers, fruit and canopy features in orchards up to 6,000 times faster than manual crop counts, giving growers data to manage crop load and yield. He spent more than two decades at the University of Sydney's Australian Centre for Field Robotics, leading multidisciplinary robotics research applied to mining and agriculture. Green Atlas has partnered with SwarmFarm Robotics on autonomous fruit-thinning technology for apple orchards. On Unfunded, he discussed bootstrapping Green Atlas and using automation to optimise crop quality.
In conversation.
1 episode
Unfunded with Joan Westenberg Go straight to the good bits.
Key moments from Optimising Crop Quality: Steve Scheding on Green Atlas, Automation, and Bootstrapping Success.
- 0:01Green Atlas and the Future of Horticultural Innovation
- 1:26Optimizing Horticulture for Quality Over Quantity
- 3:36Automating Agriculture with High-Tech Sensors and Hardware
- 8:10Navigating Startup Funding Challenges and Serendipitous Opportunities
- 12:49Rapid Prototyping and Experimentation in Tech Commercialisation
- 15:31Challenges and Costs of Outsourcing Hardware Development
- 16:40Challenges and Realities of Agtech in the VC Model
- 25:27Harnessing AI and Data for Agricultural Innovation
- 29:26Bootstrapping Green Atlas: Credibility, Partnerships, and Cash Flow Strategies
In their own words.
“The downside is hardware is hard. The upside is because it's hard, you get kind of a moat for free.”
Green Atlas on Day One
Green Atlas is an Australian agricultural technology company specializing in automating crop management through advanced imaging, AI, and robotics.
1 person · 1 episode
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Spot something wrong? Suggest a correctionUpdated 24 October 2026
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