Tunisia's RoboCare Secures Six-Figure Round From 216 Capital to Scale Precision Agriculture AI Across Africa and MENA

Tunisian agritech startup RoboCare has closed an undisclosed six-figure investment from venture capital firm 216 Capital to scale its AI-powered precision agriculture platform across Africa and the Middle East. Founded in Sfax in 2020 by CEO Imen Hbiri, RoboCare will use the funding to enter new markets across Africa and the MENA region, grow its commercial teams and further refine its locally trained AI models.

"The investment is aligned with our strategy of backing 'high-potential tech startups' that can deliver concrete answers to the continent's economic, social and environmental challenges," said Hassen Arfaoui, principal at 216 Capital.

RoboCare combines satellite imagery, drone data, Internet of Things sensor readings, weather information and field-level agronomy expertise to detect crop disease and stress early, optimise resource use and raise productivity. The company reports platform outcomes including water savings of up to 35%, a reduction of agricultural inputs by as much as 25%, and yield increases reaching 20%—figures the startup attributes to deployments to date. RoboCare says its system currently monitors several thousand hectares and has generated thousands of agronomic alerts for farmers and agribusiness operators.

How the platform is tailored to regional crops and conditions

Rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all global stack, RoboCare trains its models on locally sourced data so recommendations reflect specific soil, climate and farming conditions across North Africa and the Middle East. The startup has focused its product development on three crops central to the region’s agricultural output and trade: olive trees, cereals and processing tomatoes.

• Data sources: satellite imagery, drones, IoT sensors, weather feeds, and field agronomy.
• Reported impacts: up to 35% water savings, up to 25% reduction in inputs, up to 20% yield gains.
• Scale so far: monitoring several thousand hectares and issuing thousands of agronomic alerts.

RoboCare has also pursued partnerships with institutional organisations and joined international agritech networks to extend its reach. The 216 Capital round is intended to accelerate commercial expansion into Sub-Saharan and Middle Eastern markets where climate pressures, water scarcity and rising input costs make precision agriculture an operational priority for growers.

The funding decision dovetails with broader shifts in regional AI-enabled agriculture: startups that train models on local environmental and operational data are increasingly claiming better field performance than solutions trained on foreign datasets. RoboCare’s focus on locally specific model training, and on crops that anchor North African and MENA production, positions the company to pursue commercial contracts with large growers and exporters as it scales.

Looking ahead, execution in new markets will determine whether RoboCare can convert its current traction into the scale required to become a leading digital agriculture platform across the region. The immediate priorities set out for the 216 Capital funding—market entry, hiring commercial teams and broadening model robustness—reflect the practical steps the company plans to take to translate its reported field-level gains into repeatable, contracted revenue across diverse agroecological environments.