This year proved to be a massive driver for robotics, primarily because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fuelled by innovations in artificial intelligence, robots are getting smarter. Hence, today more and more investors are eager about opportunities to raise funds or invest in emerging robotics companies. So, despite the economic downturn and amid new tech challenges, the robotics industry is in a strong position to weather this financial hardship while managing to retain significant backing from top investors. Not only that, but robotics also managed to offer new avenues of employment, contributed to economic growth and resolved some major societal challenges. Analytics Insight brings some of the top yet exciting robotics funding and investments of 2020 that made it into headlines.
Funding Amount: US$16 million
Transaction Type: Seed Round
Lead Investor(s): MSPL and Chiripal Group
Invento, a Bengaluru-based startup that makes and markets robots, raised US$16 million in a Seed round from iron ore mining company MSPL, textile firm Chiripal Group and a clutch of angel investors. The fresh capital will be used for the company's global expansion and to build new technologies for its artificial intelligence platforms. The latest fundraise follows two rounds of undisclosed seed investments. One of Invento's humanoid robots, Mitra, made a presence at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad in 2017 and greeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump's advisors.
Funding Amount: US$28 million
Transaction Type: Series B
Lead Investor(s): Incubate Fund
Ispace Technologies, a space resource exploration company, which develops micro-robots to locate the resources necessary to extend human life into outer space. As the company uses 3D printed and commercially off the shelf products (COTS) for rapid prototyping, this year it secured US$28 million in Series B funding round. The funding was led by Incubate Fund, Sparks Innovation for Future, Inc., Takasago Thermal Engineering Co., Ltd., and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd., which brings Ispace's cumulative total investment to nearly US$125 million. The company plans to use the funds toward the development of its commercial lunar lander for its first mission and second mission planned to launch in 2022 and 2023, respectively
Funding Amount: US$40 million
Transaction Type: Series D
Lead Investor(s): Zebra Ventures
Boston-based, Locus Robotics, develops autonomous mobile robots for fulfilment warehouses. In the first half of this year, the company announced that it raised US$40 million in Series D funding. This funding round was led by Zebra Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Zebra Technologies. Scale Ventures Partners, which is one of the existing investors of Locus Robotics, also participated in the round. The company stated that this funding will be used to drive research and development while helping the company to expand its global footprint. It is looking to drive faster development of new warehouse robotics innovations, launch a European headquarters and create several strategic reseller partnerships throughout 2020.
Funding Amount: US$3.41 Million
Transaction Type: Pre-series A
Lead Investor(s): Unicorn India Ventures
The Kerala-based firm, Genrobotics, has been working with the Central and state governments with a mission to eradicate manual scavenging from the entire country. The company has deployed its star Bandicoot robots in 11 states of India. Genrobotics raised US$3.41 million in pre-Series A funding round. The round was led by existing investors Unicorn India Ventures. Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra Group, also took part in the round along with SEA Fund. The company plans to use the funds for further scaling up production of Bandicoot to meet the growing demand in light of eradicating manual scavenging and developing new products and R&D (research and development) to leverage the technology for the health care segment.
Funding Amount: US1.8 million
Transaction Type: Seed
Lead Investor(s): Hike Ventures LLC, Real Ventures, Toyota AI Ventures
Montreal-based YPC Technologies is a robotic kitchen startup based in Montreal, Canada, recently received investment funding from Toyota AI Ventures, Toyota's early-stage venture capital fund. This funding follows YPC Technologies' participation in the 2020 Toyota AI Ventures "call for innovation" focused on smart, connected cities that launched earlier this year in partnership with Toyota Research Institute – Advanced Development (TRI-AD) and Toyota Research Institute (TRI). YPC is the 28th portfolio company announced by Toyota AI Ventures and this investment is part of a US$1.8 million seed round that YPC has announced. The round was co-led by Hike Ventures and returning investor Real Ventures, with participation from Uphill Capital and multiple angel investors.
Funding Amount: US$462
Transaction Type: Investment
Lead Investor(s): Toyota
Autonomous driving startup Pony.ai, which is backed by Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. and is working with the automaker on self-driving technology. In February, it had raised US$462 million in funding, which had then brought the value of the three-year-old firm, at slightly more than US$3 billion. Pony.ai is already backed by Sequoia Capital China and Beijing Kunlun Tech Co. Most recently, Pony.ai received another US$267 million in November, thus further raising the company value at US$5.3 billion, last month. This time the funding round was led by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board's (Ontario Teachers') Teachers' Innovation Platform (OTPP). The company said in a statement that the funds will be used to develop technology, expand its fleet of self-driving vehicles and explore mobility services with Toyota. The firm is currently working on achieving "Level 4", or fully autonomous standards, in which the car can handle all aspects of driving in most circumstances with no human intervention.
Funding Amount: US$52 million
Transaction Type: Equity Financing
Lead Investor(s): G2VP
Seegrid Corporation, a smart platform that supplies material handling equipment and fleet management software, closed a US$52 million growth equity financing round, bringing the company's total funding to date to over US$150 million. The investment round previously was announced when lead investor G2VP funded the first US$25 million of the round. The company had the right to top off the round, which was oversubscribed, resulting in a total round of US$52 million with additional funding from leading technology and robotics investors.
Funding Amount: US$23 million
Transaction Type: Series B
Lead Investor(s): Calibrate Ventures, Material Impact
Robotics startup company Soft Robotics has closed its Series B round of funding, raising US$23 million led by Calibrate Ventures and Material Impact, and including participation from existing investors including Honeywell, Yahama, Hyperplane and more. This round also brings in FANUC, the world's largest maker of industrial robots and a recently announced strategic partner for Soft Robotics. The company announced plans to use this fund for boosting its growth, increasing its variability even further and working on expanding its food packaging and consumer goods applications. It also mentioned plans to venture into e-commerce and logistics, especially to help automate and improve the returns process, a costly and ever-growing challenge as more retail moves online.
Funding Amount: US$33.5 million
Transaction Type: Venture Capital Funding
Lead Investor(s): Lightspeed Ventures, Eclipse Ventures
Autonomous aircraft startup Reliable Robotics received US$33.5 million in venture capital funding in October. The funding came in two rounds, one led by Lightspeed Ventures and the other by Eclipse Ventures. Other participating investors include Pathbreaker Ventures and Teamworthy Ventures. Reliable Robotic's platform spans avionics, software mechanisms, communications systems, remote control interfaces, and backup systems that enable human pilots to take over if needed. The company is working on a project to develop an autonomous platform that imbues any fixed-wing plane with autonomous capabilities.
Funding Amount: US$17 million
Transaction Type: Series A+
Lead Investor(s): Source Code Capital
XYZ Robotics, an AI-driven robotic perception and manipulation technology developer for logistics and manufacturing automation, closed US$17 million in Series A+ funding round. Led by Source Code Capital, Gaorong Capital and Morningside Capital, the fund will fuel XYZ's research and development, business expansion, and operational capabilities, as well as large-scale deployment. The company builds autonomous robotic solutions for put wall sorting and goods-to-person picking. Its robot also sorts unorganized, random warehouse goods into groups of customer orders.
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