Laifeng Robotics, a Chinese maker of autonomous golf-course mowers, has closed an angel round worth tens of millions of yuan from Yuda Capital, according to a September 16, 2026 report by 36Kr’s hardware desk, HardKr. The company says the money will fund overseas sales and service teams and the development of new machines for greens and roughs, extending a lineup that today centers on a single fairway mower.
It is a notable deal in a category that rarely makes funding headlines. Most robotic-mower investment news is about consumer wire-free units; Laifeng is betting on the other end of the market — heavy, commercial-grade machines that replace a crew and a ride-on mower on a golf course.
The Boulder F1: a one-ton reel mower built for fairways
Laifeng’s first and, so far, only product is the Boulder F1, an autonomous reel (cylinder) mower released in September 2025 and aimed squarely at golf fairways. Per the company’s description in the report, the machine weighs roughly one ton, cuts a 1.55-meter swath, and runs at up to 2.8 meters per second. It navigates with a fusion of RTK positioning, cameras, and LiDAR, and accepts several reel cutting units (5-inch and 7-inch, in light and heavy configurations).
The operating model is the interesting part. Laifeng says the F1 can leave its charging station on its own, travel across the course at night, mow for roughly seven to eight hours, and return to charge — with multiple machines coordinated through the cloud on a shared high-precision map, using time-windowed scheduling to keep them out of each other’s way. Founder and CEO Liu Yuxuan, who started the company in 2022, told 36Kr the team spent much of its effort validating cutting consistency across weather conditions, and that a full season of on-course trials in Asia has brought the robots to routine, unattended operation.
These performance and deployment figures are the company’s own claims as relayed by 36Kr; AI Mower News has not independently tested the Boulder F1.
Where it’s sold — and where it’s headed next
The F1 is currently sold in China, South Korea, and Japan, according to the report. Europe is the company’s primary near-term expansion target, with certification and distribution work under way. A broader North American push is planned for 2027. The new funding is earmarked specifically for building the overseas sales and service organization needed to support that rollout, plus development of a greens mower and a rough (long-grass) mower to cover the rest of a course.
Pricing and the cost case
36Kr reports a North American price of roughly US$12,000 to US$14,000 for the F1, against about US$14,000 for comparable conventional fairway equipment, with the company claiming a five-year cost reduction of more than 50 percent once labor and operating costs are included. As with the performance numbers, treat the savings figure as a vendor projection until course operators publish real-world data.
The FCC question
The report also states that Laifeng obtained U.S. FCC certification for the F1 before recent FCC restrictions affecting certain foreign-produced robotic devices took effect — a detail that would matter a great deal for its 2027 North American plans. AI Mower News has not yet located the corresponding FCC record, and we are treating this as an unverified company claim until we can confirm it against the FCC’s equipment-authorization database. We will update this story if we find it.
What This Means for Golf Courses and Commercial Operators
For superintendents and contract maintenance firms, Laifeng is one more sign that autonomous fairway mowing is moving from pilot projects to a competitive product category, alongside offerings from established turf-equipment brands and U.S. robotics startups. Fresh capital directed at service teams is a meaningful signal: it is the support infrastructure, not the mower itself, that usually decides whether a commercial fleet deployment works.
For buyers in North America specifically, the practical takeaway is timing. Laifeng is targeting 2027 for this market, and its FCC status is still unconfirmed on our end. Courses evaluating autonomous mowing in the next 12 months should compare the F1 against machines that are shipping and supported here today, and ask any vendor — Laifeng included — for its FCC grant number before committing.
FAQ
- ### What is the Boulder F1?
- An autonomous reel mower for golf fairways made by Laifeng Robotics. According to the company, it weighs about one ton, cuts 1.55 meters wide, uses RTK, vision, and LiDAR navigation, and runs seven to eight hours per charge, including at night.
- ### How much did Laifeng Robotics raise?
- An angel round described as “tens of millions of yuan” from Yuda Capital, per 36Kr/HardKr. An exact figure was not disclosed.
- ### Can I buy the Boulder F1 in the United States?
- Not yet. The company says it sells in China, South Korea, and Japan today, is expanding into Europe next, and plans a larger North American push in 2027. Its U.S. FCC certification is reported but not yet verified by AI Mower News.
- ### What does the F1 cost?
- 36Kr reports a North American price of roughly US$12,000 to US$14,000. Pricing in other markets was not stated.
Source: Original Article (36Kr / HardKr, September 16, 2026, reporter Huang Nan)
Author: AI Mow
AI Mow is the AI-assisted news desk of AI Mower News. It monitors manufacturer announcements, trade shows and industry sources, and drafts stories in our editorial voice. Every article is checked against its original source before publication — our fact gate holds anything that claims testing we did not do or specs the source does not support — and is published under this byline for transparency. How we work: https://aimowernews.com/editorial-guidelines/ · The people behind it: https://aimowernews.com/our-team/
