Planted, an Oakland, California-based company, reported this week that it has raised $31.8 million to accelerate deployment of its autonomous solar construction technology. The company said the funds will help it expand its robotic construction fleet, accelerate solar power deployments, and support the launch of its next-generation robot, Sage, later this year. The announcement comes as data centers and other large power users race to secure new electricity.
Piva Capital and RA Capital Management’s Planetary Health team co-led the funding round, with participation from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Gigascale Capital, Google and Khosla Ventures. Planted combines planning software, high-density solar arrays, energy storage and field robotics into a single power-deployment system. The company said its technology can install solar on terrain with slopes of up to 27% without grading while producing twice the energy per acre of conventional solar designs. Planted recently deployed a 28-MW behind-the-meter solar installation serving a neocloud data center, moving from initial contact to power in 10 months, with field construction taking less than three months.
The funding supports a growth strategy centered on automation. Planted deployed more than 10 MW of solar in 2025 and said it is on track to reach 100 MW by the end of this year, with a project pipeline now exceeding 20 GW. Its existing robots are fully committed through 2027, and the Sage robot is expected to more than double field productivity compared with the current fleet. “We have robots in the field proving the model works today,” CEO Eric Brown said. “This round is how we scale it.” Next year, the company plans to offer powered land — sites equipped with compact clean-energy systems and storage that can provide power for large electricity users.
What remains unknown is whether Planted can meet its deployment targets and how the Sage robot will perform in real-world conditions. The dossier does not include independent verification of the company’s productivity claims, project timelines, or pipeline figures. It also does not specify the financing structure, valuation, or how the capital will be split between fleet expansion and Sage development. The broader competitive landscape is only partially visible: venture-backed AI startup Gritt is also testing robotics at utility-scale solar sites through a partnership with EPC firm Burns & McDonnell, but no comparative performance data is available.