Carbon Robotics crossed the $100 million revenue mark in its fiscal year ending March 2026 and is now steering toward an initial public offering, founder and CEO Paul Mikesell said.

The Seattle-based ag robotics company, which sells the G2 LaserWeeder and a tractor-autonomy retrofit kit, fields demand in roughly 20 countries with the strongest pull in the United States, Western Europe and Australia, Mikesell told AgFunderNews at the inaugural Ruggedize ag robotics conference at Reservoir Farms in Salinas, California.

Where does the $100 million come from?

"We came out with our second generation G2 LaserWeeder early last year, and we now have multiple sizes of machines," Mikesell said. The smallest fits roughly 50-acre operations; the largest serves farms in the hundreds of thousands of acres.

Carbon Robotics is also building an unannounced machine still in the ag robotics space, alongside the LaserWeeder line. The company recently closed a $20 million Series D extension to fund expansion of the autonomy platform.

How big is the addressable market?

Mikesell pegs the laser-weeder opportunity at "thousands of machines a year." The autonomy kit, which retrofits existing tractors with cameras, radar, lidar and perception software, could reach 30,000 to 40,000 tractors annually.

"I don't think we need to" move outside agriculture, Mikesell said. "I think there is plenty of room to make a completely independent, publicly traded company in agriculture."

What does the autonomy kit actually do?

The Carbon Autonomy system converts an existing tractor into a driverless machine capable of tillage, cultivation, irrigation and laser weeding. Mikesell said the company is weighing an additional capital raise to scale that product line.

"Going through a dealership to do something like service and support puts you one step removed from your customer," Mikesell said. "We just didn't like that model at all."

Carbon Robotics runs its own regional sales and support crews in every market it serves, drawing staff from local farming backgrounds.

Where does the ROI come from?

Mikesell pointed to reduced labor, lower herbicide bills and yield lifts of 30% to 50% in fields where growers swap spray for lasers.

"So 30 or 40, 50% yield improvement in the same field," Mikesell said, "and that comes from not spraying, which knocks back the crops."

Without herbicide contact, crops emerge roughly two weeks earlier, command earlier-market prices and require less water and fertilizer, he added. Carbon has documented savings for growers who switch from transplants to direct seeding because laser weeding holds back weed pressure that previously forced hand transplanting.

How fast is the payback?

"Certainly in less than three years, but our fastest paybacks are less than a year," Mikesell said.

The capital cost has drawn bank financing partners that now offer operating leases on the LaserWeeder. "You don't have to put capital up front; you just pay a certain amount every month," Mikesell said, "and then as long as you're making more money than that off the benefits from the LaserWeeder, you're cash positive immediately."

What's next for the IPO track?

Carbon Robotics intends to keep scaling revenue while preparing for a public listing, Mikesell said, framing the IPO as the company's stated goal rather than an exploratory option.

The next test for that timeline will be the rollout of the unnamed new machine and any further capital raise tied to the autonomy business.