Firefighting startup raises $20M as wildfire season approaches

Rising global temperatures and increasing instances of drought have made recent wildfires some of the worst in history.

As this year’s wildfire season approaches, San Francisco-based startup BurnBot is working to roll out its vegetation-eating fire-management vehicles to help mitigate disasters.

The company raised $20 million in its latest funding round to expand and develop its remotely-operated vehicle, the RX BurnBot, designed to “eat” the dry vegetation that is often the fodder for forest fires, as well as perform controlled burns to clear areas of hazards.

The round was led by ReGen Ventures, with participation from Toyota Ventures, AmFam Ventures, Convective Capital, Blue Forest Asset Management, Skip Capital, Overture Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital and Pathbreaker Ventures.

Using the funds, BurnBot said it can also scale up initiatives to restore forestland and perform controlled burns, in a widespread effort to reduce the instances of wildfire.

As RX moves across a specific area, it shoots fire onto the ground before immediately spraying water to cool down the land and prevent escaped fires.

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