Monarch Tractor’s collapse ends in with an acquisition by Caterpillar

Monarch Tractor’s assets person been acquired by operation elephantine Caterpillar, aft struggling to pivot to a bundle services business, according to filings with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The acquisition, archetypal reported by Bloomberg, caps a fewer pugnacious years for Monarch arsenic it went done aggregate rounds of layoffs, was sued by 3 antithetic dealers, and mislaid a large declaration manufacturing spouse successful Foxconn. It besides comes conscionable a fewer weeks aft co-founder and vino scion Carlo Mondavi said helium was “pushed out” aft disagreeing with CEO Praveen Penmetsa’s software-forward approach.

Mondavi couldn’t beryllium instantly reached for comment. Penmetsa declined to remark beyond a connection Monarch issued past week, which said its exertion had been acquired by an unspecified “large planetary instrumentality manufacturer.” Caterpillar didn’t instantly respond to a petition for comment.

Monarch raised much than $200 cardinal implicit the past 8 years. It was founded successful 2018 by Mondavi, Penmetsa, and erstwhile Tesla enforcement Mark Schwager. The extremity was to physique “driver optional” electrical tractors that were besides susceptible of autonomously navigating wineries, effect farms, and dairy farms.

While Monarch initially acceptable retired to physique the tiny tractors astatine its ain installation successful Livermore, California, it yet became 1 of 4 companies that partnered up with Taiwanese electronics elephantine Foxconn to inhabit a erstwhile General Motors mill successful Lordstown, Ohio.

Foxconn planned to physique vehicles for EV startups Fisker, Lordstown Motors, and IndiEV, arsenic good arsenic the tractors for Monarch. But Foxconn lone ever made a fewer electrical trucks for Lordstown Motors (which it bought the mill from) earlier that institution went bankrupt. Fisker and IndiEV besides went bankrupt earlier Foxconn could ever marque those companies’ aboriginal vehicles astatine the factory. Foxconn did marque a fewer 100 Monarch tractors astatine the factory, but the electronics elephantine sold the works successful August 2025 to SoftBank, leaving Monarch without a manufacturer.

By that point, Monarch was already struggling. It laid disconnected unit successful aboriginal 2024 earlier closing a $133 cardinal backing round. Just a few months later it laid disconnected adjacent much employees and said it was restructuring to absorption connected bundle and licensing its autonomous tech.

Dealers who purchased Monarch tractors person claimed the company’s autonomous tech ne'er worked good successful the archetypal place. One trader who sued Monarch successful September 2025 said the tractors were “defective” and “unable to run autonomously.” (Monarch denied the claims successful a tribunal filing.) Two different dealers person since filed akin national lawsuits against Monarch. In 1 case, a erstwhile defence lawyer for Monarch wrote successful a January filing that Monarch entered into an duty for the payment of creditors — an alternate to Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Mondavi spoke up astir his departure past period in a remark connected an Instagram post from a husbandman who complained astir Monarch’s tractors. The wine-maker wrote helium “left implicit a twelvemonth agone owed to cardinal differences successful approach” aft seeing “reliability issues” with Monarch’s tractors connected his farm, and connected friends’ farms.

“I wanted to code them done hardware changes, portion the CEO believed they could beryllium solved much done software. I believed powerfully successful a antithetic way but was yet blocked and pushed retired alongside different co-founder,” helium wrote.

The institution auctioned off astir of its remaining tractors earlier this year.