Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

funding

Wikifactory secures $2.5 million funding to expand its manufacturing marketplace

by Leave a Comment

Wikifactory, an online platform for collaboratively creating physical products, has secured $2.5 million in pre-series A funding from existing shareholders and new investors including, Seier Capital, the investment vehicle of Lars Seier Christensen. This brings Wikifactory’s funding to date to a total of nearly $8 million.

Wikifactory enables developers, designers, engineers and startups from across the globe to collaborate, prototype and produce hardware solutions in real-time that solve real world problems.

The company is working to build the Internet of Production, which is an emerging concept of a distributed, interoperable, open standards-based system, linking together product definitions, software services, and manufacturing-as-a-service (MaaS) solutions. [Read more…] about Wikifactory secures $2.5 million funding to expand its manufacturing marketplace

Yamaha Motor Ventures leads $7.5 million funding round for Verge Ag

by Leave a Comment

Yamaha Motor Ventures, the strategic business development and investment arm of Yamaha Motor, has led a $7.5 million Series A funding round for Verge Ag, a precision agriculture company.

Verge claims to be the developer of the world’s first AI-powered interactive software that enables farmers to plan, simulate, and validate the movement of equipment in the field and execute field operations efficiently.

Nolan Paul, partner and Global Ag Tech lead for Yamaha Motor Ventures, says: “This investment in Verge Ag underlines our thesis that precision farming technologies are mission critical to a sustainable future for agriculture. [Read more…] about Yamaha Motor Ventures leads $7.5 million funding round for Verge Ag

Skyline Robotics unveils ‘world’s first high-rise window-cleaning robot’ Ozmo

by Leave a Comment

Skyline Robotics has unveiled “the future of window cleaning” with Ozmo, describing it as the “world’s first high-rise window-cleaning robot”, and investors are taking notice. (See video below.)

The company has closed a successful pre-Series A funding round led by Standard Industries with contributions from Karcher New Venture and Gefen Capital.

Skyline will use the funding across a variety of business operations including expanding its New York City team, as well as continued product development and new capabilities to own the facade operations of the future. [Read more…] about Skyline Robotics unveils ‘world’s first high-rise window-cleaning robot’ Ozmo

Starship Technologies raises $100 million in 30 days as demand for delivery robots skyrockets

by Leave a Comment

Starship Technologies, a provider of autonomous delivery services, has raised $100 million in the last 30 days, including a new $42 million Series B funding round.

The Series B funding will help Starship further scale its service and meet increasing demand for its autonomous delivery service by launching in tens of new cities and campuses, including Pleasanton in the Bay Area as well as University of Tennessee, Knoxville and University of Idaho.

Some of this funding is immediately going to support people by donating directly to the Red Cross in Ukraine, says Starship. [Read more…] about Starship Technologies raises $100 million in 30 days as demand for delivery robots skyrockets

RightHand Robotics raises $66 million in Series C funding

by Leave a Comment

RightHand Robotics, a startup developing autonomous robotic picking solutions for order fulfillment, has secured $66 million in a Series C financing.

The funding round was led by investors Safar Partners, a technology venture fund; Thomas H. Lee Partners, an investor in automation and supply chain; and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, which is part of the SoftBank Group.

Zebra Technologies, Epson and Global Brain also join this round, along with previous investors GV, F-Prime Capital, Menlo Ventures, Matrix Partners and Tony Fadell’s Future Shape. Previous rounds were led by Menlo Ventures and Playground Global. [Read more…] about RightHand Robotics raises $66 million in Series C funding

Autonomous vehicle simulation startup MorAI raises $20 million funding

by Leave a Comment

MorAI, a developer of autonomous vehicle simulation technology, has secured a $20 million Series B funding round.

The round includes investment from new investors Korea Investment Partners, KB Investment, and the state-run Korea Development Bank, as well as from existing investors Naver’s D2 Startup Factory, Hyundai Motor Group’s Zero1ne, Kakao Ventures, and Atinum Investment, bringing MorAI’s total funding to date to $25 million.

MorAI was co-founded in 2018 by three autonomous driving researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. Ever since, the company has established itself as South Korea’s sole provider of full-stack autonomous vehicle simulation solutions. [Read more…] about Autonomous vehicle simulation startup MorAI raises $20 million funding

India’s richest man spends $132 million buying majority stake in robotics company

by Leave a Comment

India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, has bought the majority stake – 54 percent – in a robotics company called Addverb Technologies through his Reliance Industries conglomerate.

Addverb Technologies is a warehouse automation company, mainly in the intralogistics space, providing autonomous mobile robots and other systems, and was already working with Reliance Industries.

The purchase of the shares took place during the startup’s latest funding round. [Read more…] about India’s richest man spends $132 million buying majority stake in robotics company

Starship Technologies agrees €50 million funding from European Investment Bank

by Leave a Comment

Starship Technologies, a maker of autonomous delivery robots, has agreed on a €50 million quasi-equity facility agreement with the European Investment Bank.

The lending arm of the European Union and one of the largest providers of climate finance, the EIB supports projects that promote the priorities and objectives of the EU.

This financing, which is supported by the European Fund for Strategic Investments, has been facilitated via a venture loan, and will be used for research and development, including the building of thousands more robots at Starship’s engineering and innovation facility in Tallinn. [Read more…] about Starship Technologies agrees €50 million funding from European Investment Bank

Vecna Robotics raises $65 million in Series C funding

by Leave a Comment

Vecna Robotics, a provider of robotic material handling automation, has raised $65 million in its Series C funding round led by Tiger Global Management, along with additional funding from new investors Lineage Logistics, Proficio Capital Partners, and Impulse.

The new financing will help fund the company’s technology roadmap with new autonomous mobile robots (AMR) and software, and will accelerate fulfillment of new orders and expanded operations to address the $165 billion market opportunity for pallet-moving autonomy.

Craig Malloy, CEO of Vecna Robotics, says: “There is huge headroom for growth in automated material handling with over 5 billion pallets in the world being moved by more than 5 million forklifts and nearly 5 million manual operators. [Read more…] about Vecna Robotics raises $65 million in Series C funding

Agtonomy raises another $5 million to develop technology platform for local agriculture

by Leave a Comment

Agtonomy, a hybrid autonomy and tele-assist service platform, has raised an additional $5 million in Seed II funding from strategic and venture investors Toyota Ventures, Flybridge, Hampton VC, E²JDJ and Momenta, for a total of $9 million in seed funding to date.

The startup, which is developing a platform for local agriculture, raised $4 million in its seed round from Grit Ventures, GV (formerly called Google Ventures), and Village Global, the venture firm backed by some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs including Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Michael Dell, in September last year.

This latest round will be used to accelerate development and trials of the Agtonomy platform to address the growing labor and sustainability challenges facing local agriculture. [Read more…] about Agtonomy raises another $5 million to develop technology platform for local agriculture