Fieldwork Robotics, a portfolio company of intellectual property commercialisation specialist Frontier IP Group PLC (LSE:FIPP, FRA:8WT), has attracted a £300,000 investment from SEED Innovations to accelerate the rollout of its harvesting robots.
SEED Innovations is an AIM-quoted investment fund focused on artificial intelligence and robotics, chaired by the entrepreneur and serial investor Jim Mellon.
The investment is made on the same terms as a £2.2 million round led by Elbow Beach that completed in April 2026, alongside £1.7 million in grant funding.
It forms part of a wider £2.5 million Seed+ fundraise.
The money will be used to support commercial farm trials and further technology validation.
Fieldwork develops selective, adaptive and modular robots designed to pick soft fruit such as raspberries.
The company is addressing rising labour costs and a shortage of fruit pickers, with growers losing large volumes of soft fruit each year.
A UK deployment programme is already underway with Place UK in Norfolk and Littywood Farm in Stafford, with international trials planned in Australia.
If the trials succeed, Fieldwork expects multi-robot fleets to be operating on farms from 2027.
Frontier IP chief executive Neil Crabb said winning the support of a fund backed by Mellon was a strong sign the company was primed for future success.
Mellon said Fieldwork epitomised how AI and robotics could solve a real-world problem, noting that up to 30% of soft fruit is lost due to a shortage of pickers.
