Top Funding in Miniature Robotics that One should Know about in 2021

Soft Robotics

Robotics startup company Soft Robotics has closed its Series B round of funding, raising $23 million led by Calibrate Ventures and Material Impact, and including participation from existing investors including Honeywell, Yamaha, 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. Soft Robotics is focused on developing miniature robotic grippers that, as you might've guessed from the name, make use of soft material endpoints that can more easily grip a range of different objects without the kind of extremely specific and tolerance-allergic complex programming that's required for most traditional industrial robotic claws.

Felix Ltd.

General-purpose robotics company Flexiv Ltd. has closed more than $100 million in a Series B funding round with major investors including Meituan, Meta Capital, New Hope Group, Longwood, YF Capital, Gaorong Capital, GSR Ventures, and Plug and Play, marking the largest single-round fundraising ever in the field of general-purpose robotics, according to the company.

Flexiv Ltd. is a robotics company that develops robotics and AI technologies and applies them across all industries. Four years after its founding, Flexiv has completed its core hardware and software products development with more than 100 technical patents submitted and has validated its primary business model, now becomes ready for further business expansion. In 2019, Flexiv completed its series A+ with accumulated funding of $22 million. In April 2019, Flexiv officially launched its first product, the world's first adaptive robot Rizon. In 2020, Rizon received global recognition for its design and product value by winning both the iF Design Award and the German Innovation Award. The company has manufactured over 100 adaptive robots and developed several reliable and unique industrial applications after dedicating a tremendous amount of time and resources to product verification and iterative optimization in the fields.

Virtual Incision

Virtual Incision, a medical technology company that's developing miniaturized surgical robots, has raised $20 million in what it's calling a "series B+" round of funding led by Bluestem Capital, with participation from PrairieGold Venture Partners and Genesis Innovation Group, among others. Founded in 2006, Lincoln, Nebraska-based Virtual Incision develops a small robotic arm called Mira that enables surgeons to carry out minimally invasive abdominal surgery in any hospital or medical environment. It's designed to negate the need for dedicated spaces and infrastructure that are required by traditional robotic systems. Portability is the name of the game with Mira, and at just two pounds it can be easily shifted between locations. Mira is geared toward improving access to surgery by making the technology more accessible.

Memic Innovative Surgery

Memic Innovative Surgery (Memic), a medical device company focussing on robot-assisted surgery, has closed a $96 million Series D financing round. The funding round was led by Peregrine Ventures and Ceros with participation from Our crowd and Accelmed. Funding will support the commercialization of the Hominis robotic-assisted surgical platform in the U.S. and potentially in other countries as the company also plans to expand marketing and sales efforts outside the U.S. The financing will also support continued research and development efforts including expanding the company's portfolio of products and manufacturing scaleup, as well as provide world-class customer support and training.