Farmhq, an AgTech startup based in rural Burlington, Washington, has raised $500,000 from investors to grow its irrigation technology business, bringing its total funding to nearly $5 million.
The company has flourished with over 200 customers in the US, Canada, Mexico and Australia, and its revenue has more than doubled year-over-year.
With the new funding, FarmHQ plans to expand its technology and services to farms using center pivot irrigation, the most common sprinkler system, but one that’s difficult to automate. The sprinklers create circular crop patterns visible when flown over agricultural fields. The startup also plans to nearly double its headcount to nine by the end of the year.
While FarmHQ is experiencing significant growth, it has also been navigating challenges posed by new U.S. tariffs on China and Canada. The startup is seeking domestic supplies for some of the hardware components it previously sourced from China, but which are often more expensive or unavailable in the U.S., said co-founder and CEO David Wallace.
On the sales side, Canadian farmers account for 18% of the company’s business. That country has levied retaliatory tariffs against the US, making some customers in the north more reluctant to buy.
The trade battles are creating “confusion and frustration,” Wallace said.
Wallace and his brother Connor founded their company in 2020. The two grew up on the family potato farm in Skagit Valley, but left for college and jobs with tech companies.
They turned their attention to Agtech after seeing firsthand how physically demanding and inefficient it was to operate aquatic irrigation systems. Sprinklers could malfunction and flood, and farmers were required to regularly enter the fields to monitor and control the systems.
The Wallaces launched Coda Farm Technologies, which they renamed FarmHQ last year, to solve this problem. Their technology regulates water flow and shares real-time irrigation data on a smartphone dashboard. The platform can pair with a customer’s existing sprinklers and be deployed on irrigation pumps, valves, and flow meters.
Irrigation innovation could help the agricultural sector, which is being hammered economically as costs rise and profits decline. In the US, this is largely driven by a labor shortage that has worsened as the Trump administration has targeted and arrested undocumented workers.
“Automation, digital transformation, and workforce development are key strategies for addressing labor shortages,” states a June 2025 report from FTI Consulting. “Companies should prioritize technology adoption, improving working conditions, and fostering partnerships to drive innovation and efficiency.”
Furthermore, water conservation is becoming increasingly important as the planet continues to warm. In the US alone, 36 states are currently experiencing moderate to severe droughts .
Wallace said customers are satisfied with FarmHQ’s products and services, which include perks like free sensor replacements if they break.
“Every grower wants the opportunity to evaluate a season’s worth of product before jumping in,” he said, adding that most accounts are tripling their purchases after the first year. “We’re happy we gained their trust quickly.”
Despite FarmHQ’s success, the overall sector is uneven. Global AgTech investment has been in steady decline since 2021, according to Pitchbook data . Funding in the second quarter of this year totaled $1.5 billion, a 23% drop compared to the same period last year.
One of these rounds went to Verdi, a Vancouver, BC, startup that announced $4.7 million in funding in May. The company is also exploring irrigation automation.
