Monarch Tractor, an autonomous electric tractor startup, warned employees on Thursday that it may have to lay off more than 100 employees or even “shut down,” according to a company-wide memo obtained by TechCrunch.
The memo comes after Monarch Tractor had already cut some positions in the past few weeks at corporate facilities in California and remote teams in India and Singapore, according to multiple former employees who spoke to TechCrunch on condition of anonymity.
Monarch Tractor was founded in 2018 by a team that includes the former CEO of Tesla’s first Gigafactory and Carlo Mondavi, the scion of a famous winemaking family. The company has raised at least $220 million, including $133 million in 2024, to pursue its goal of building autonomous tractors with “driver-at-will” capabilities that can perform tasks in locations such as wineries and other orchards.
Monarch Tractor claims to have shipped about 500 of these tractors to date, but the company announced a reorganization in late 2024 that would expand the tractors to other uses, such as pushing feed on dairy farms and maintaining golf courses. CEO Praveen Penmetsa also said at the time that Monarch Tractor would focus more on selling software services and licensing its self-driving technology.
At least one customer, one of Monarch Tractor’s original dealers, claims the self-driving technology didn’t work well even if it existed, according to a lawsuit first reported this week by TechCrunch. Burkes Tractor, an Idaho dealer, claimed it sold a “defective” vehicle that developed “significant problems” after the Monarch arrived in 2024. Birx primarily criticized Monarch’s tractors for not being able to drive autonomously. (Monarch denied this claim in a court filing.)
Monarch Tractors signaled to employees in a Thursday memo that it is pivoting more strongly away from tractor manufacturing, which may not be surprising given the company lost contract manufacturer Foxconn earlier this year.
“The new business plan will enable Monarch’s customers to offer fully commercialized software-as-a-service (SaaS) autonomy and other software products directly to consumers, creating new revenue streams for OEMs,” the company’s human resources team wrote. “Unfortunately, the timing of the completion of the transition to the new business plan puts Monarch at risk of closure.”
tech crunch event
san francisco
|
October 13-15, 2026
In a memo, Monarch told employees that “up to 102 employees” could be permanently laid off.
“In 2025, over 70% of Monarch’s revenue will come from licensing, and this segment is expected to grow further in 2026,” Penmezza told TechCrunch in an email Wednesday. He declined to disclose overall revenue figures.
“Investors are showing interest in Monarch’s next-generation smart off-highway equipment technology, which leverages cost-effective hardware and field experience. The WARN notice reflects the shift of our team and resources to revenue-generating areas,” he said of the formal layoff notice to the state.
It’s unclear how many people currently work at Monarch. The startup had about 300 employees at the end of 2024, after laying off more than 10% of the company as part of a restructuring. Former employees familiar with recent layoffs could not say exactly how large they were.
Monarch Tractor has lost some top talent this year, including former Tesla co-founder Mark Schwager.
“We founded Monarch with a bold vision: to make agriculture electrified, automated, smarter, and more profitable all at once,” Schwager wrote in a July LinkedIn post, explaining that he would remain on the company’s board of directors. “Monarch is in a great position and in great hands for its next trajectory and the timing is right for this transition.”
This article has been updated with a response from Monarch Tractor’s CEO.
