Robotics Roundup #4: April 2024
Robotic field clearing, ancient fishing techniques, and autonomous airships
Welcome to Robotics Roundup, where we collect the robotics industry’s most important VC deals from the past month. In this edition: robotic field clearing, ancient fishing techniques, autonomous airships, and plenty more.
The Deals
Skyports raised $110M in Series C funding, led by infrastructure and construction company ACS Group. The London-based company designs, builds, and operates take-off and landing infrastructure for air taxis, and partners with electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle manufacturers.
Collaborative Robotics raised a $100M Series B round led by General Catalyst and joined by Bison Ventures, Industry Ventures, and Lux Capital. The Silicon Valley company is developing a “novel cobot” system, still under wraps for now, though with reported applications in healthcare, warehousing, and large facilities like offices, stadiums, and hotels.
Ripcord raised $32M in funding led by existing investors including Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, Icon Ventures, Lux Capital, MUIP, and 15th Rock. Founded on NASA research, the San Francisco company uses proprietary robotics, GenAI, and cloud software to digitize and digest information from paper and digital documents.
Vitestro raised $22M in a round co-led by return investor Sonder Capital and new investor NYBC Ventures. The Dutch company is using a combination of artificial intelligence, advanced imaging technology, and robotics to create an autonomous blood draw device.
Reshape raised $20M in a Series A round led by Astanor Ventures, R7, ACME, Y Combinator, Unity Co-Founder Nicholas Francis, and Per Falholt. Researchers in laboratories use the Copenhagen-based startup’s AI and robotics-powered imaging and analysis platform to automate visual assays.
Mentee Robotics raised $17M in funding led by Ahren Innovation Capital. The Israeli company also unveiled MenteeBot, a humanoid that the company says has “sufficient dexterity for a wide spectrum of activities” across households and industrial settings.
TerraClear’s existing investors contributed $15M of additional capital in its latest funding round. The company, which splits its headquarters between the Seattle suburbs and Grangeville, Idaho, provides farmers with rock picking robots to clear fields for agricultural cultivation.
SpinEM Robotics raised $11M in an A2 funding round led by spinal surgery tech company Spineart. The French startup develops surgical robotics and navigation solutions for spinal surgeons.
Fotokite closed an $11M Series B round led by Carbyne Equity Partners. The Zurich-based company’s autonomous and “actively tethered” drones provide an elevated point of view for first responders in the field.
Forcen raised $6.1M in a round co-led by Brightspark Ventures and BDC Capital’s Deep Tech Venture Fund. The Toronto company develops force and torque-sensing technology and edge intelligence for robots.
Shinkei raised $6M in Seed funding led by Cantos. The Los Angeles-based company uses robotics and machine learning to automate an ancient Japanese technique called ike jime, which reduces stress on harvested fish at the moment of slaughter to prevent the build up of lactic acid and other chemicals that can spoil the flesh.
HyLight raised $4M in a round led by Y Combinator, Ring Capital, Kima Ventures, Collaborative Fund, and Tesla Co-Founder Marc Tarpenning. The French startup is building hydrogen-powered airship drones for energy infrastructure inspection use cases.
Are you announcing your funding round soon? Submit it at stateofrobotics@fprimecapital.com