Greenfield Robotics aims to raise up to $18.6 million (€16.3 million) through a Regulation A+ public offering on StartEngine, opening the Kansas-based weed-cutting robotics company to everyday US and international investors.

Shares are priced at $2.07 (€1.82) each. As of publication, more than $428,000 (€376,000) has already been raised. The company's 2026 season has sold out, delivering more than $1 million (€880,000) worth of robots, and around 2,600 shareholders already hold stock from earlier rounds.

Greenfield has 82 autonomous machines working commercial fields across 16 US states, six years after its first units entered crop rows.

How does the BOTONY system work?

Greenfield separates seeing the field from working it. A drone maps where weeds sit relative to crop rows and produces a digital prescription. The company's BOTONY robot then follows that map and cuts weeds mechanically at ground level, without chemicals.

The platform is set to widen next season. Greenfield plans to add four tasks beyond weeding: feeding crops after dark, seeding cover crops, mulching cover crops and planting the cash crop itself.

What does a robot cost and how much ground does it cover?

Each BOTONY runs on two swappable lithium-ion batteries delivering three to three-and-a-half hours of operation before needing roughly the same amount of time to recharge. Recharging happens either by swapping the packs or topping up through a port on the machine.

Greenfield quotes a working rate of about 0.85 acres per hour. In a University of Vermont pilot a single robot covered around seven acres a day.

Nathan Dyrud of Greenfield has put the per-unit price at $36,500 (€32,100). His rule of thumb is one machine for every 80 to 100 acres of row crops:

• 200-acre grower: 2 to 3 robots
• 300-acre operation: 3 to 4 robots

Greenfield has shifted away from a former pay-per-use service to outright sales. A lease option is said to be coming later but has not yet been detailed.

Who is behind the company and where is it built?

Founder Clint Brauer is a third-generation farmer from outside Wichita, Kansas. He returned to the family farm after 14 years in Los Angeles technology work, prompted by his father's Parkinson's diagnosis.

"My dad got Parkinson's. That began the quest," Brauer said.

The production backbone is a partnership with Amity Technology in Fargo, North Dakota. "For a long time, we made these by hand in a shed in Kansas," Brauer said. "There's a production line in Fargo now. That changes how fast we can put machines out and how fast we can iterate on them."

North Dakota has committed $500,000 (€439,000) toward a dedicated production facility for the work. Research users of the robots include Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin, with the University of Nebraska set to follow via grant funding. The US Department of Agriculture has run Greenfield's fleet at Grand Farm in North Dakota, inside its National Proving Grounds Network for AgTech.

Backers and partners include Chipotle's Cultivate Next fund, KingsCrowd Capital, the Rodale Institute and the Kansas Department of Commerce.

What is the offering trying to solve?

The raise lands amid mounting legal and regulatory pressure on the herbicides Greenfield's robots are designed to replace, alongside rising herbicide resistance among weeds. Growers face a widening choice between heavier chemical applications, more tillage or manual labour, a gap Greenfield is positioning its machines to fill.

Ahead of the official launch, more than 500 prospective investors indicated interest in reserving over $1 million (€880,000) worth of shares during a non-binding "testing the waters" period. Proceeds are earmarked for manufacturing and production, field operations, research and development, and general company costs.

What to watch next: the lease option still to be detailed, the four new field tasks slated for the 2027 season, and the opening of order books beyond 2026. Farmers weighing a purchase should also track whether the University of Vermont's seven-acres-a-day pace holds up in heavier residue, uneven row spacings or hilled ground.