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Robotics investments for January 2023 totaled $521 million as a result of 41 investments. Investments in firms working on autonomous vehicles and autonomous driving technologies were particularly in January 2023. Example companies include Oxbotica, Outrider, FERNRIDE and Ottopia.
Companies providing unmanned aerial drones and drone-enabling technologies, as well as drone services for search and rescue, public safety, industrial inspection, mapping and surveying, also attracted funding for Terra Drone, SwissDrones, SentinelSky and Nautical Wings, for example.
Robotics investments for December 2022 totaled $1.14B as a result of 55 investments. That represented a 7.7% increase over December 2021’s funding total of $1.06B (representing 65 investments).
Table 1: January 2023 Robotics Funding and Investment
| COMPANY | AMOUNT | TYPE | COUNTRY | TECH, PROD & SERVICES | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Able Innovations | $590,000 | Grant | Canada | Other Commercial | Able Innovations develops robotic medical devices for patient transfer in healthcare. |
| Altitude Angel | $5,983,294 | Other | UK | Software, Sensors / Sensing Systems | Altitude Angel makes drones safer via data and cloud services. |
| Baraja | Estimate | Other | Australia | Sensors / Sensing Systems | Baraja offers a LiDAR soluton for autonomous transportation systems. |
| BionicM | $2,838,729 | Series A | Japan | Prosthetic / Orthotic Systems | BionicM develops high-performance robot prostheses that enhance mobility for people with disabilities. |
| Delivery Couple | $323,075 | Pre-Seed | Poland | Outdoor Mobile Platforms | Delivery Couple produces semi-autonomous sidewalk delivery robots for marketplaces, restaurants and food delivery services. |
| FERNRIDE | Estimate | Other | Germany | Sensors / Sensing Systems, Software, Operator Services - UGVs | FERNRIDE offers teleoperation technologies and services for autonomous, electric trucking. |
| Flyhound | $700,000 | Pre-Seed | USA | Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Medium Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Operator Services - UAVs | Flyhound Time offers drone technologies for location operations for emergency services providers. |
| Future Kitchen | Estimate | Other | Korea | Other Commercial | Future Kitchen produces a kitchen automation platform that automatically takes food orders and completes manufacturing using AI and robots. |
| Ganymed Robotics | $15,909,531 | Series B | France | Surgical / Interventional Systems, Video / Vision / Imaging | Ganymed Robotics develops smart robots for orthopedic surgery. |
| Gaussian Robot | Estimate | Series D | China | Indoor Mobile Platforms | Gaussian Robot develops intelligent cleaning robots. |
| Jiyu Technology | Estimate | Seed | China | Other | Jiyu Technology focuses on the R&D and industrialization of a universal "control-by-wire chassis" for unmanned driving. |
| KEWAZO | $10,000,000 | Series A | Germany | Other Industrial, Software | KEWAZO provides intelligent robotic hoists for construction and industrial sites. |
| Kind Technologies | Estimate | Other | The Netherlands | Collaborative Robots, Sensors / Sensing Systems | Kind Technologies automates greenhouse horticulture using computer vision, robotics data, and AI. |
| Lionsbot | $17,000,000 | Series A | Singapore | Indoor Mobile Platforms | LionsBot offers cleaning robots as a service for commercial, industrial, and public spaces. |
| Lumotive | $13,000,000 | Other | USA | Sensors / Sensing Systems | Lumotive is developing solid-state lidar for autonomous systems in the automotive, UAV, robotics, and related industries. |
| Machina Labs | Estimate | Other | USA | Articulated Robots, Software | Machina Labs' solution combines AI and robotics to rapidly manufacture advanced sheet metal products. |
| Nautical Wings | Estimate | Other | India | Actuators / Motors / Servos | Nautical Wings provides advanced electric propulsion systems for unmanned systems for surveillance and reconnaissance applications for military and civilian operations. |
| Novarc Technologies | $200,000 | Grant | Canada | Collaborative Robots, Sensors / Sensing Systems | Novarc specializes in the design and commercialization of collaborative robots for industrial applications. |
| OTIV | Estimate | Series A | Belgium | Sensors / Sensing Systems, Software | OTIV provides driver assistance and autonomous systems for railway transport operations. |
| Ottopia | $14,500,000 | Series A | Israel | Software | Ottopia is a teleoperation software company providing a platform that enables humans to safely control any type of vehicle from afar. |
| Outrider | $73,000,000 | Series C | USA | Autonomous Transportation Systems (Auto, Truck, Monorail etc.), Software | Outrider developes autonomous electric yard trucks, software and site infrastructure systems for distribution yards. |
| Oxbotica | $140,000,000 | Series C | UK | Sensors / Sensing Systems, Software | Oxbotica provides a full stack autonomoy solution for autonomous vehicles. |
| PHINXT Robotics | $747,709 | Pre-Seed | UK | Indoor Mobile Platforms, Software | PHINXT Robotics offers autonomous mobile robotics solutions engineered for small/medium warehousing, 3PLs, distribution and manufacturing firms. |
| Photoneo Brightpick Group | $19,000,000 | Series B | USA | Indoor Mobile Platforms, Sensors / Sensing Systems | Photoneo Brightpick Group provides automation solutions incorporating mobile robotics systems for ecommerce and grocery fulfillment. |
| Raise Robotics | $2,200,000 | Pre-Seed | USA | Collaborative Robots | Raise Robotics develops robotic systems for fenestration and mass timber contractors that automates bracket and layout operations. |
| RDARS | $1,000,000 | Other | USA | Indoor Mobile Platforms, Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles | RDARS offers autonomous robotics and drone technology for alarm system augmentation and surveillance. |
| Robolem | Estimate | Seed | Switzerland | Indoor Mobile Platforms, Software | Robolem produces intelligent chassis for automating transport tasks for the retail, healthcare, and hospitality sectors. |
| Scythe Robotics | $42,000,000 | Series B | USA | Outdoor Mobile Platforms | Scythe Robotics develops autonomous machines for maintaining off-road environments. |
| SentinelSky | Estimate | Seed | USA | Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Medium Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Operator Services - UAVs | SentinelSky provides first responder drone services. |
| Shark Robotics | $10,829,695 | Other | France | Outdoor Mobile Platforms | Shark Robotics is a robotics and UGV company that develops terrestrial robots for the public safety, defence and space sectors. |
| SILEANE | Estimate | Other | France | Articulated Robots, Sensors / Sensing Systems, Software | SILEANE offers robotics technologies and engineering services for bin picking, pick and place operations and more. |
| sliQue Robotics | Estimate | Pre-Seed | USA | Indoor Mobile Platforms, Software | sliQue Roboticsis a machine learning and robotics firm specializing in solutions to optimize hospitality operations y. |
| Spartan Radar | $17,000,000 | Series B | USA | Software | Spartan Radar provides SW that removes artifacts from sensor scans while extracting the most important data |
| Spike Dynamics | $200,000 | Seed | USA | Actuators / Motors / Servos | Spike Dynamics produces lightweight artificial muscles and other actuators for robots and automated systems. |
| SwissDrones | Estimate | Other | Switzerland | Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Medium Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Operator Services - UAVs | SwissDrones develops, manufactures and deploys long-range, unmanned helicopter systems for beyond visual line of sight inspection, surveillance and public safety applications, |
| Terra Drone | $14,000,000 | Series C | Japan | Operator Services - UAVs | Terra Drone is a drone and software manufacturer. |
| Tutor Intelligence | $4,162,206 | Pre-Seed | USA | RaaS, Collaborative Robots | Tutor Intelligence is an information technology company that specializes in the fields of robotics, AI, and machine learning. |
| Waabi | Estimate | Other | Canada | Sensors / Sensing Systems, Software, Microcontrollers / Microprocessors / SoC | Waabi produces software, sensors and compute technoligies for driverless trucks. |
| Zhejiang Huandong Robot Joint Technology | $43,264,210 | Other | China | Actuators / Motors / Servos | Zhejiang Huandong Robot Joint Technology (Huandong Technology), an operating unit of Shuanghuan Transmission, specializes in the development and industrialization of robot joint reducers and high-precision hydraulic components. |
As described in Figure 1, companies located in the USA received the most funding, both in terms of the number of rounds and the total funding amount for January 2023. The total funding for UK companies was sizable, buoyed by the investment into Oxbotica, a provider of a full-stack autonomy solution for autonomous vehicles.
Figure 1: January 2023 robotics investment by country
All funding types were represented for January 2023 investments (Figure 2), with C rounds accounting for the bulk of the funding amounts (Figure 3).
Figure 2: January 2023 robotics funding amounts by investment type
Figure 3: December 2022 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.
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