Greenzie CEO Charles Quinn never wants people to worry about repetitive outdoor labor again.
That’s why he founded Greenzie in 2018 — a software company that automates commercial lawn mowing. Now, he’s raised a $1.5 million seed round to roll out automated mower fleets to existing customers.
“Our mission is to free humans from repetitive outdoor labor, and from day one that has been our focus,” Quinn said. “There’s a labor crisis because people are not clamoring for jobs to ride or push a mower in the hot sun all day.”
Quinn and David Cummings, a local serial tech entrepreneur and investor, led the round. TechSquare Labs and Reliance Advisors, among other investors, also participated. Cummings co-founded Greenzie through the Atlanta Ventures Studio program. Greenzie has $3 million in total investments to date.
Greenzie is the first company to launch from the Atlanta Ventures Studio, which helps entrepreneurs build their startups from scratch and provides resources and investments in exchange for co-founding the businesses. Quinn said that team has been a huge help in deciding the trajectory of the startup.
“The Green Industry is being disrupted with their robotic software, and I am excited to be propelling that growth here in Atlanta and beyond,” Cummings said in an email.
Greenzie creates software that automates commercial lawn maintenance for landscaping companies such as BrightView. The startup partners with Wright Manufacturing to produce the hardware.
With the new funds, Quinn said they’re delivering Wright-manufactured mowers with Greenzie software to their existing customers. Those customers have been using Greenzie's mowers and robotic technicians alongside their landscaping crews this past season.
Greenzie also plans to add six more people to its eight-person team for product development and marketing.
“Robotics and software on the mower are the next labor productivity-saving device,” Quinn said.
The idea for the startup came from Quinn’s love for automation and software, which he says can solve most problems. Quinn is a Georgia Institute of Technology alumnus and long-time Atlanta technology entrepreneur.
Quinn called it a personal pet peeve when he sees people having to do repetitive work, such as mowing lawns or painting parking spot lines. He hopes Greenzie can free workers to focus on other aspects of the business, such as the aesthetics of landscaping rather than wasting time mowing.
Right now, Quinn said he’s hyper-focused on lawn maintenance but sees the company expanding into lawn care, such as chemicals and fertilizers. Quinn said the long-term mission is to help automate all repetitive, outdoor labor.
