Outfield

Outfield Technologies is a Cambridge-based agritech company founded by Jim McDougall and Oli Hilbourne in 2016. The company's AI-powered platform uses drone technology and computer vision to help growers maximise yields from high-value orchard crops, particularly apples and tree fruits. The system can count individual blossoms and estimate fruit load with less than 10% error margin, with a single drone surveying 6,000 trees in under 20 minutes compared to 6+ hours of manual counting for 600 trees. Outfield's technology has been deployed across the UK, Europe, South Africa, Chile, and New Zealand, with over 1,000 reports delivered to growers. The company raised a £750K seed round in 2021 led by Turquoise, with participation from Low Carbon Innovation Fund, Cambridge Agritech, DeepTech Labs, and Amadeus, and has secured additional grant funding from Innovate UK and DEFRA.