This is part two of a two-part series. In part one, Steve Saunders, the co-founder of New Zealand Robotics Plus told his side of the story of the acquisition journey of the company by Yamaha Agriculture. Now Nolan Paul, CEO of Yamaha Agriculture, gives us the buyer view from the other side of the table.

Nolan is building out the agricultural strategy of Yamaha Agriculture by searching the world for the very best agricultural technology they can find. In April 2025, they closed the acquisition of Robotics Plus which completed the vision of a fully integrated autonomous, data-driven agricultural platform. In this conversation, Nolan shares what it is really like to bring three companies from three different countries under one roof inside a Japanese corporation.

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In this episode you’ll hear:

• The chance encounter that in hindsight, set in motion a decade-long journey from investment to full acquisition.
• What it was that attracted Yamaha Agriculture to choose Robotics Plus
• The honest reality of post-acquisition integration across multiple cultures: Kiwi,, American, and Japanese
• The importance of building genuine partnerships before you need to call on them

About Nolan

Nolan Paul is the CEO of Yamaha Agriculture. His career spans agriculture, capital allocation, and industrial scale‐up.

Nolan combines disciplined operating judgment and financial fluency with global governance experience within a major OEM, direct grower‐level investment management, and responsibility for deploying autonomous systems at scale.

Links

Yamaha Agriculture https://yamaha-agriculture.com/

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