Rapid Robotics, creator of what it calls the first ready-to-work robotic machine operator, has announced $5.5M in seed funding.
Investment
Investment
Weekend Roundup: October 2, 2020
This Week in the Unmanned Systems and Robotics World
Einride has raised an additional $10 million in venture capital funding. The company believes the funding will be enough to get it to next year, when it can hopefully seek out a bigger round. (VentureBeat)
Self-driving forklift developer Fox Robotics to use new funding to increase production
Fox Robotics, a company that builds self-driving forklifts, has closed a $9 million Series A led by Menlo Ventures.
According to Fox Robotics, the company makes self-driving forklifts that are “more flexible, more capable and safer” than current automated guided vehicles (AGVs). The company says that its forklifts are capable of handling challenging tasks that no other automation can handle, such as unloading trailers without modifying the warehouse environment.
An added advantage of Fox's forklifts is that it takes less than a day to get Fox's forklifts installed and running in a new warehouse. Fox says that typical AGV's usually weeks or months to integrate into a new warehouse.
Raptor Maps to use new funding to build additional capabilities into its solar data model
Solar software company Raptor Maps has announced that it has raised a $5 million Series A, co-led by Blue Bear Capital, Data Point Capital, and Buoyant Ventures.
With a mind towards solving growing pains for solar project finance, development, and asset management across an industry experiencing a 49 percent annual growth rate over the last 10 years, Raptor Maps describes the current approach to developing and operating solar farms as “increasingly untenable, resulting in demand for software and standardization of required processes and documentation.”
“Our mission is to build software that enables the solar industry to scale,” says Raptor Maps co-founder and CEO Nikhil Vadhavkar.
Sea Machines Robotics closes $15 million financing round
Sea Machines Robotics has closed a new $15 million financing round, which marks one of the largest venture rounds for an advanced technology company serving the marine and maritime industries, according to Sea Machines.
“This reinforces Sea Machines’ position as the leading developer of autonomous navigation and wireless vessel control systems,” says Michael G. Johnson, CEO, Sea Machines.
“Our ability to secure significant financing during a challenging economic environment is an indicator of investors’ confidence in our ability to reshape and retool the marine industries with modern-day, advanced technologies.”
Autonomous driving platform developer Phantom AI raises $22 million
Autonomous driving platform developer Phantom AI has raised $22 million in Series A financing, bringing its total capital raised to date to $27 million.
With a goal of democratizing the use of driver assistance and safety technologies to reduce crashes, save lives and make driving more enjoyable, Phantom AI, which was founded in 2016 by lead engineers from Tesla’s and Hyundai’s Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) teams, will use this latest round of funding to accelerate product development while scaling operations in Europe and Asia.
The company is working with several automakers, a truck OEM and multiple European and Asian tier 1 suppliers.
Seegrid closes $25 million growth equity investment
A company that develops self-driving industrial vehicles for material handling called Seegrid has closed a $25 million growth equity investment from venture capital firm G2VP.
According to Seegrid, the investment, which reflects a multi-hundred million dollar valuation, will help the company further capitalize on its position as a market leader in the automated guided vehicle (AGV) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) industry.
Diligent Robotics announces $10 million series A investment
Artificial intelligence company Diligent Robotics has announced that it has raised a $10 million series A investment.
Known for its hospital robot assistant called Moxi, Diligent Robotics launched in 2017 and since its launch, it has worked alongside hundreds of nurses to understand their work, and ultimately help them redesign workflows to incorporate Moxi.
“Seeing the passion and humanity that nurses bring to their job has become the most inspiring part of our work. Every member of our team feels proud that we get to build something that makes a difference for nurses, because they are just amazing people,” Diligent Robotics says.
Australian startup developing autonomous EV that generates energy requirements from the sun
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)—on behalf of the Australian Government—has awarded Australian startup Applied Electric Vehicles Pty Ltd (AEV) $2 million in funding to develop an autonomous electric vehicle (EV) that will utilize a solar photovoltaic (PV) roof and lithium ion battery system.
ARENA’s funding will go towards solving energy related challenges such as selecting the most appropriate solar PV technology for the solar roof, and optimizing the mass, energy efficiency, solar gain and safety of the vehicle.
Waymo raises $2.25 billion in first external investment round
Waymo raised $2.25 billion in its first external investment round.
The investment round was led by Silver Lake, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Mubadala Investment Company. Additional investors included Magna International, Andreessen Horowitz, AutoNation and Alphabet.
“Waymo is the proven leader in self-driving technology, is the only autonomous vehicle company with a public ride-hailing service, and is successfully scaling its fully driverless experience,” says Egon Durban, co-CEO, Silver Lake, and nominee for Waymo's Operating Board.
“We’re deeply aligned with Waymo’s commitment to making our roads safer, and look forward to working together to help advance and scale the Waymo Driver in the U.S. and beyond.”
