Issaquah-based rock-clearing startup TerraClear is looking to deliver more of its products and services to farmers after raising $15 million Monday.
TerraClear has about 40 employees, including around 30 based in the Seattle area, according to co-founder and CEO Brent Frei. He added that TerraClear has worked out most of its tech challenges and now wants to grow its sales and partnerships.
"That's the fun part, but it's also the super hard part," Frei said. "It takes money."
Most of TerraClear's tech employees are based in the Seattle area. Frei said that with most of its team already in place, the company is using its funding to expand partnerships, for example with manufacturers or contractors who will go to remove rocks from farmers' fields.
Related coverage
TerraClear, founded in 2017, makes a rock-picking robot and cage that attaches to farm equipment like tractors. It also offers a rock-picking service where a TerraClear contractor removes the rocks during a window that works for the farmer. Plus, it offers a rock-mapping service that shows farmers where the rocks are in their fields, allowing them to more efficiently remove them.
In addition to clients in the U.S., TerraClear has made sales in Europe, Australia and Canada, according to Frei.
Before TerraClear, Frei co-founded the Bellevue-based work software company Smartsheet in 2005. After stepping away from Smartsheet, Frei spent time working on the farm where he grew up in Grangeville, Idaho. Doing so is good for the soul, according to Frei.
During this stint back home, Frei and his then-81-year-old father were digging up rocks out of the ground. Frei saw how automated other farming tasks were and knew he was onto something.
"It has been a 5,000-year-old problem that has never been solved," Frei said. "I told myself, 'Why would you start another company? That's a giant pain in the ass. Don't do that.' But I just couldn't stop thinking about it."
Frei is leaving the board at Smartsheet in June.
In addition to its Issaquah headquarters 1770 NW Maple St., TerraClear has an office in Grangeville. Frei said the company has enough space for now and no plans to expand.
As for what the farmers do with the rocks, Frei said some dump them in a specific place on the land where owners can't farm. Others will haul the rocks off the farm rather than waste a precious plot for dumping rocks.
