Praveen Penmetsa

Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder
Monarch Tractor

Praveen Penmetsa has over 22 years of experience turning audacious ideas into tangible products and technologies with global impact. His work has spanned areas like sustainable mobility, energy generation and storage, and farm robotics resulting in delivered products ranging from autonomous electric aircraft to farm weeding robots

Currently focused on agriculture, Penmetsa is bringing a new type of tractor company and agricultural technology to farmers worldwide through Monarch Tractor. Also serving as the chairman and founder of Motivo Engineering, Penmetsa is building teams that develop and scale the next generation of robotic solutions for mobility, energy and food. He believes the greatest impact of digital transformation and electrification lies in farming rather than urban mobility. This realization forms the foundation of Monarch's vision of working towards a healthier and sustainable farming future that will make farmers profitable.

Penmetsa was the 2023 Bay Area award winner of Entrepreneur of the Year®. Together with his Monarch Tractor co-founders, Carlo Mondavi, Zachary Omohondro, PhD, and Mark Schwager, Penmetsa is changing the future of agriculture and the world’s food systems for the better.

What we are trying to do here is change the statement, ‘There is no future in farming,’ to ‘There is a future, it’s highly profitable and sustainable from a farm community standpoint all the way to the planet.’

More Insights by Praveen Penmetsa:

If there is a commonality across all the changes happening in agriculture, it’s one of prioritizing a farm’s long-term viability. While the Industrial and Green Revolutions increased crop yields, farmers paid for it in the forms of...

5 AgTech Trends for 2024: Insights by Monarch Tractor

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As 2023 draws to a close, we gathered the year’s milestones marking Monarch’s journey to advance profitability and sustainability for farms everywhere.

Celebrating the Milestones of 2023 & Looking Ahead to 2024

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Some of the biggest names in technology gathered for Vox Media’s 2023 Code Conference marking its twentieth year of putting industry leaders in the spotlight for an intense round of Q&As.

Monarch CEO Interviewed at 2023 Code Conference

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Forbes named Monarch Tractor to its 2023 Next Billion-Dollar Startups list. Monarch's inclusion on the list as a future ag unicorn was based on its track record around growth and scalability...

Built to Save Farming, Monarch Featured in Forbes Documentary

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Monarch Tractor CEO and co-founder sat down with CNN’s international business correspondent, Richard Quest to discuss how reimagining the tractor can drive farmer profitability and planet sustainability.

CNN Calls Monarch Tractor a David and Goliath Story

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Monarch Tractor’s namesake is a butterfly. Forbes, however, is calling it a unicorn. Each year, the Forbes' Next Billion-Dollar Startups list...

Monarch Tractor Identified as Ag Unicorn by Forbes

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Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced that CEO and Cofounder, Praveen Penmetsa, of Monarch Tractor was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2023 Bay Area Award winner.

Monarch CEO Named Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2023 Bay Area Award Winner

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It’s been dubbed Amazon’s secret conference. Each year, Amazon Founder and Executive Chair, Jeff Bezos, invites an exclusive gathering of leading voices across machine-learning, automation, robotics, and space (aka MARS).

Monarch CEO Shares an Insider’s Look of Monarch’s Ag Technology

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In 2015, Monarch CEO and Co-founder, Praveen Penmetsa, asked a farmer what he was going to do with the fuel savings from his electric tractor. “I’m going to use the money to send my kids to college because there is no future in farming,” the farmer replied.

Monarch’s CEO Connects Small Farms, Sustained Profits & the MK-V

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Monarch Tractor, maker of the MK-V, the fully electric, driver-optional, smart tractor, today announced it has been named to the 2023 CNBC Disruptor 50 list for the second year in a row.

Monarch Tractor Named to 2023 CNBC Disruptor 50 List for Second Consecutive Year

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In an industry known for its challenges, wildfire season is an especially perilous time of year for farmers. Historically arriving in summer and lasting through autumn, fire season hits as crops are ripening or ready for harvest.

How the MK-V Is Supporting Farmers During Wildfire Season

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