Putting FarmBot Express and Express XL on hold

We introduced FarmBot Express and Express XL in July of 2019 with the hope that by offering a more affordable and easier to use FarmBot, we would make our technology accessible to many, many more people and unlock the next phase of growth for our company.

In the roughly 5 years since launch, we manufactured 785 of these kits in total across two productions runs: one for Express and Express XL v1.0, and one for v1.1. Being much simpler machines with fewer features and a lower cost to manufacture, we sold these kits at roughly one half to one third the price of their higher end Genesis and Genesis XL counterparts. During seasonal sales, FarmBot Express v1.1 was available for as little as $995 with free worldwide shipping.

To our surprise, despite the much lower selling price, the FarmBot Express product line never created a durable step change increase in FarmBot sales volume or growth for our company. In fact, our 2022 and 2023 yearly reviews showed that revenue from the Express product line had declined significantly two years in a row and there was an even steeper decrease in overall profitability due to rising COGS and lowered selling prices over the years.

This sales data, combined with the fact that the FarmBot Genesis and Genesis XL v1.7 kits now come 90% pre-assembled (matching one of the main value propositions of Express), has led us to put the Express product line on hold for the foreseeable future.

Moving forward we will focus our manufacturing and product innovation efforts exclusively on the Genesis product line, doubling down on the higher end equipment that our current market demands.

While we are dismayed that the Express line did not live up to our expectations, we will continue to provide ongoing support for all Express customers and hope to bring more affordable kits to a wider audience again in the future.