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Monarch Tractor\u2019s assets have been acquired by construction giant Caterpillar, after struggling to pivot to a software services business, according to filings<\/a> with<\/a> the United States Patent and Trademark Office.<\/p>\n The acquisition, first reported<\/a> by Bloomberg, caps a few tough years for Monarch as it went through multiple rounds of layoffs, was sued by three different dealers, and lost a major contract manufacturing partner in Foxconn. It also comes just a few weeks after co-founder and wine scion Carlo Mondavi said<\/a> he was \u201cpushed out\u201d after disagreeing with CEO Praveen Penmetsa\u2019s software-forward approach.<\/p>\n Mondavi couldn\u2019t be immediately reached for comment. Penmetsa declined to comment beyond a statement Monarch issued last week<\/a>, which said its technology had been acquired by an unspecified \u201clarge global equipment manufacturer.\u201d Caterpillar didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Monarch raised more than $200 million over the last eight years. It was founded in 2018 by Mondavi, Penmetsa, and former Tesla executive Mark Schwager. The goal was to build \u201cdriver optional\u201d electric tractors that were also capable of autonomously navigating wineries, fruit farms, and dairy farms. <\/p>\n While Monarch initially set out to build the small tractors at its own facility in Livermore, California, it eventually became one of four companies that partnered up with Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn to occupy a former General Motors factory in Lordstown, Ohio. <\/p>\n Foxconn planned to build vehicles for EV startups Fisker, Lordstown Motors, and IndiEV, as well as the tractors for Monarch. But Foxconn only ever made a few electric trucks for Lordstown Motors (which it bought the factory from) before that company went bankrupt. Fisker and IndiEV also went bankrupt before Foxconn could ever make those companies\u2019 future vehicles at the factory. Foxconn did make a few hundred Monarch tractors at the factory, but the electronics giant sold the plant in August 2025 to SoftBank<\/a>, leaving Monarch without a manufacturer.<\/p>\n By that point, Monarch was already struggling. It laid off staff in early 2024<\/a> before closing a $133 million funding round. Just a few months later<\/a> it laid off even more employees and said it was restructuring to focus on software and licensing its autonomous tech. <\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span> Dealers who purchased Monarch tractors have claimed the company\u2019s autonomous tech never worked well in the first place. One dealer who sued Monarch<\/a> in September 2025 said the tractors were \u201cdefective\u201d and \u201cunable to operate autonomously.\u201d (Monarch denied the claims in a court filing.) Two other dealers have since filed similar federal lawsuits against Monarch. In one case, a former defense lawyer for Monarch wrote in a January filing<\/a> that Monarch entered into an assignment for the benefit of creditors<\/a> \u2014 an alternative to Chapter 7 bankruptcy.<\/p>\n Mondavi spoke up about his departure last month in a comment on an Instagram post<\/a> from a farmer who complained about Monarch\u2019s tractors. The wine-maker wrote he \u201cleft over a year ago due to fundamental differences in approach\u201d after seeing \u201creliability issues\u201d with Monarch\u2019s tractors on his farm, and on friends\u2019 farms.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to address them through hardware changes, while the CEO believed they could be solved more through software. I believed strongly in a different path but was ultimately blocked and pushed out alongside another co-founder,\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n The company auctioned off<\/a> most of its remaining tractors earlier this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n