|
Listen to this article
 |
Robotics funding reached $851 million in August 2023, the result of 62 investments (See Table 1 below or download Table 1 HERE). The total amount of funding for 2023 to date is about $8.85 billion.
| Company Name | Amount | Round | Country | Technology |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ADUS | Estimated | Seed | South Korea | ADUS offers autonomous driving technologies and services. |
| Aerit | $1,336,705 | Pre-Seed | Sweden | Aerit provides drone delivery services. |
| Airobotics | $553,873 | Grant | Israel | Airobotics provides an end-to-end, fully automatic solution for collecting aerial data and gaining invaluable insights. |
| Altos Radar | $3,500,000 | Seed | USA | Altos Radar offers 4D Imaging Radar technology for autonomous driving. |
| Artly Coffee | Estimated | Other | USA | Artly Coffee offers a robot barista that learns various coffee-making techniques from human baristas |
| Asensing | Estimated | Series D | China | Asensing develops high-precision positioning technology for autonomous vehicles. |
| AutoCore | Estimated | Other | China | AutoCore is a provider of software and electronics for intelligent mobility. |
| Avion | $4,729,998 | Other | USA | Avion is an autonomous aerial network that delivers medicals and vaccine supplies via drones. |
| Büyütech | $3,630,000 | Other | Turkey | Büyütech develops and manufactures passive-only perception solutions to make the roads safer. |
| Copperstone Technologies | $1,912,485 | Grant | Canada | Copperstone Technologies provides robotic services for survey and investigation of challenging and remote locations. |
| Drone City | $50,000 | Grant | USA | Drone City provides last-mile drone delivery services. |
| Endorobotics | $8,300,000 | Series B | South Korea | Endorobotics offers micro-robotic technology and precision control technology for endoscopic surgery. |
| Farada Group | $248,605 | Pre-Seed | Poland | Farada Group is an Unmanned Aerial Vehicles manufacturing company. |
| Fieldwork Robotics | $1,900,538 | Other | United Kingdom | Fieldwork Robotics is developing autonomous harvesting robots. |
| FireFly Automatix | $633,516 | Other | USA | FireFly Automatix manufactures automated, self-propelled, and autonomous equipment for the turfgrass sector. |
| FUE Bioscience | Estimated | Series A | China | FUE Bioscience is a medical robot R&D business that specializes in microsurgery above the head and neck. |
| GITAI | $15,000,000 | Series B | Japan | GITAI develops remote controlled robots to replace astronaut's operations in commercial space stations. |
| Helm.ai | $55,000,000 | Series C | USA | Helm.ai develops AI software for driver assistance systems, autonomous driving, and robotics. |
| Hunan Tree Industrial Manufacturing | $13,905,884 | Series A | China | Hunan Tree Industrial Manufacturing specializes in robotics and automation equipment for casting, sanding, and polishing. |
| Imagine Aerial | Estimated | Grant | USA | Imagine Aerial uses advanced drone technology to acquire detailed datasets that it distributes to its clients. |
| Imagry | $15,000,000 | Other | USA | Imagry is an Autonomous Driving (AD) software provider that offers a mapless driving system. |
| Innoviz Technologies | $65,000,000 | Other | Israel | Innoviz develops LiDAR sensors and perception software for autonomous vehicles. |
| Integrated Aerial Precision | Estimated | Other | Nigeria | Integrated Aerial Precision provides drone services and data analytics for precision agriculture. |
| Intuition Robotics | $25,000,000 | Other | Israel | Intuition Robotics provides care companion technologies for older adults. |
| Jacobi Robot | Estimated | Seed | China | Jacobi Robot develops general AI and cross-embodiment control systems for robots. |
| Jiaan Smart | $13,901,438 | Series A | China | Jiaan Smart provides integrated force control technology solutions for robotics systems. |
| Kernel Foods | $36,000,000 | Series A | USA | Kernel Foods is a fast food startup that utilizes robotics technologies to automate food production. |
| Lukai Zhixing | Estimated | Series A | China | Lukai Zhixing is a special unmanned vehicle overall solution provider focused on mining operations. |
| MaxByte Technologies | $5,000,000 | Series A | India | Maxbyte Technologies is an Industrial IoT company empowering customers through implementing factory of the future. |
| Mendaera | $24,000,000 | Series A | USA | Mendaera is developing robotics solutions that address inefficiencies in healthcare. |
| Mooe Robot | $13,702,196 | Series B | China | Mooe Robot develops autonomous mobile robots and lift trucks for industrial applications. |
| Novabot | $10,000,000 | Seed | USA | Novabot offers mobile robots for lawn mowing. |
| Novarc Technologies | $20,000,000 | Series A | Canada | Novarc specializes in the design and commercialization of collaborative robots for industrial applications. |
| Nuwa Robotics | $6,257,156 | Series B | Taiwan | Nuwa Robotics offers a personal robot, along with an autonomous mobile robot. |
| Olis Robotics | $4,100,000 | Other | USA | Olis Robotics' solution operates robotic systems and remotely monitors, diagnose, and controls industrial robots. |
| Orangewood Labs | $4,500,000 | Other | USA | Orangewood Labs is focused on automating mundane human jobs through Easy-to-use, collaborative and tele-operable robotic arms for Industries |
| PaXini Tech | $3,000,000 | Seed | China | PaXini Tech provides tactile technology and adaptive robots. |
| POMO Robotics | Estimated | Other | United Kingdom | Robotic system integrator and autonomous vehicle startup. |
| Pony.ai | $139,000,000 | Other | USA | Pony.ai develops autonomous vehicle technology. |
| PROCEPT BioRobotics | $150,000,000 | Other | USA | PROCEPT BioRobotics is a surgical robotics company that develops water-based robotic systems for prostate surgery. |
| Refiberd | Estimated | Seed | USA | Refiberd develops a robotics-based textile recycling system that sorts and recycles unsorted, discarded textiles into new ones. |
| Remora Robotics | $2,828,492 | Seed | Norway | Remora Robotics provides autonomous submarine robots that clean and inspect fish farming pens while collecting data about the pen’s aquatic environment. |
| Ronovo Surgical | $27,427,167 | Series B | China | Ronovo Surgical provides robotic and digital solutions for minimally invasive (MIS) and digital surgery. |
| Saeki Robotics | $2,300,000 | Seed | Switzerland | Saeki Robotics is a manufacturing company that offers robotic digital manufacturing units and hardware and software automation tools as a service. |
| Serve Robotics | $30,000,000 | Other | USA | Serve Robotics develops self-driving robots that deliver food and supplies. |
| Skyline Robotics | $3,350,000 | Seed | Israel | Skyline Robotics specializes in automating real estate maintenance work at heights. |
| Smooth Ag Solutions | $38,500 | Grant | USA | Smooth Ag Solutions produces an autonomous feed rover and other technologies for ranch operations. |
| Soft Robot Tech | $20,852,158 | Series C | China | Soft Robot Tech is an Industrial automation supplier offering flexible gripping solutions and other technologies. |
| Southeast Feishi | Estimated | Seed | China | Southeast Feishi offers drone inspection services. |
| Speedbird Aero | $2,051,955 | Other | Brazil | Speedbird Aero develops and operates unmanned aerial systems to deliver products. |
| Spike Dynamics | $280,000 | Seed | USA | Spike Dynamics provides actuators and artificial muscles for aerospace and robotics applications. |
| Sweepee | Estimated | Other | Poland | Sweepee is a manufacturer of self-driving sweeping robots. |
| Tongchuan Precision | Estimated | Series A | China | Tongchuan Precision offers motion control solutions for industrial robots. |
| True Digital Surgery | $2,501,865 | Series B | USA | True Digital Surgery builds a 3D digital surgery visualization platform that provides visualization for a wide range of surgical procedures. |
| ULS Robotics | Estimated | Series A | China | ULS Robotics provides a variety of industrial exoskeletons. |
| United Robots | Estimated | Seed | United Kingdom | United Robots offers a variety of mobile robotics for cleaning and portage operations. |
| Vicarious Surgical | $45,000,000 | Other | USA | Vicarious Surgical is a robotics company that develops robotic systems that allow surgeons to perform minimally invasive surgery. |
| Virtuoso Surgical | $179,820 | Seed | USA | Virtuoso Surgical specializes in developing endoscopic robotic tools for minimally invasive surgery. |
| Weilan Intelligent | $13,713,583 | Series A | China | Weilan Intelligent specializes in building all-purpose, legged robots for homes and businesses. |
| Wilder Systems | $8,559,086 | Other | USA | Wilder Systems provides robotics and automation solutions for aircraft manufacturers. |
| Zero Zero Robotics | $1,700,000 | Other | China | Zero Zero Robotics produces a small, autonomous drone called the Hover Camera. |
| Zhiyuan Robotics | Estimated | Series A | China | Zhiyuan Robotics develops general-purpose humanoid robots. |
Companies located in the U.S., China and Israel received the most rounds and the most funding amounts, dwarfing other countries (Figure 1, below). Companies based in the USA received the majority of the rounds (23), which resulted in a total funding inflow of $537 million. Firms based in China attracted $141 million in funding (coming from 17 investments), while four investments in Israeli companies accounted for $94M in investment.
Companies offering robotic surgical systems and enabling technologies were particularly strong in August. Examples include PROCEPT BioRobotics ($150M), Vicarious Surgical ($45M), Ronovo Surgical ($27M), and Endorobotics ($8M).
Providers of self-driving software and hardware solutions for autonomous transportation, led by Pony.ai ($139M), also received substantial funding. Other companies include Innoviz Technologies ($65M), Helm.ai ($55M) and Imagry ($15M).
Figure 1: August 2023 Robotics Investment by Country
All funding types were well represented in the August 2023 investment review (Figure 2). Approximately one-quarter of the August 2023 investments were Pre-Seed and Seed rounds.
More than one-half of the August 2023 investment amounts fell under the aegis of ‘Other,’ a catchall descriptor for investments that do not include the typical stages of funding that businesses go through before their initial public offering (ex. Seed rounds followed by Series A, B, C, D and E funding). Investments in the ‘Other’ category accounted for over $500M in funding (Figure 3, below).
Figure 2: August 2023 Robotics Funding Amounts by Investment Type
Figure 3: August 2023 Robotics Funding Amounts by Investment Number and Amounts
Editor’s note: What defines robotics investments? The answer to this simple question is central in any attempt to quantify them with some degree of rigor. To make investment analyses consistent, repeatable, and valuable, it is critical to wring out as much subjectivity as possible during the evaluation process. This begins with a definition of terms and a description of assumptions.
Investors and investing
Investment should come from venture capital firms, corporate investment groups, angel investors, and other sources. Friends-and-family investments, government/non-governmental agency grants, and crowd-sourced funding are excluded.
Robotics and intelligent systems companies
Robotics companies must generate or expect to generate revenue from the production of robotics products (that sense, analyze, and act in the physical world), hardware or software subsystems and enabling technologies for robots, or services supporting robotics devices. For this analysis, autonomous vehicles (including technologies that support autonomous driving) and drones are considered robots, while 3D printers, CNC systems, and various types of “hard” automation are not.
Companies that are “robotic” in name only, or use the term “robot” to describe products and services that do not enable or support devices acting in the physical world, are excluded. For example, this includes “software robots” and robotic process automation. Many firms have multiple locations in different countries. Company locations given in the analysis are based on the publicly listed headquarters in legal documents, press releases, etc.
Verification
Funding information is collected from a number of public and private sources. These include press releases from corporations and investment groups, corporate briefings, market research firms, and association and industry publications. In addition, information comes from sessions at conferences and seminars, as well as during private interviews with industry representatives, investors, and others. Unverifiable investments are excluded and estimates are made where investment amounts are not provided or are unclear.
What are the investments in the ‘Other’ category? This is not explained even though it makes up over half of the investments. I assume this is institutional investors.