Robotics Roundup #9: September 2024
UAVs, self-driving tech, and unmanned boats
Welcome to Robotics Roundup, a retrospective on the robotics industry’s most important VC deals over the last month. Deal count picked up significantly in September, with lots of deals for companies building UAVs, self-driving tech, unmanned maritime vehicles, and more.
The Deals
Forterra raised $75M in a Series B funding round led by Moore Strategic Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital, and Hedosophia. The Clarksburg, Maryland company is building an autonomous driving system for defense and industrial use cases in on-road and off-road environments.
Mendaera raised a $73M Series B round led by Threshold Ventures, with participation from Lux Capital, PFM Health Sciences, and Fred Moll, among others. The Silicon Valley company’s handheld medical robotics platform helps perform needle-based procedures like biopsy, vascular access, and pain management.
Seegrid closed $50M in Series D funding led by Giant Eagle Incorporated and G2 Venture Partners. The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania company is building autonomous tow tractors and lift trucks to move pallets around warehouses and other industrial settings.
Pyka raised $40M in Series B funding led by Obvious Ventures, with participation Piva Capital, Prelude Ventures, Metaplanet Holdings, Y Combinator, and others. The Bay Area company is building autonomous electric aircraft for use cases in agricultural crop protection, commercial cargo transport, and defense logistics.
Quantum Systems added more than $30M in new funding to its Series B, bringing the total round to about $110M. The new funding was led by Notion Capital and Porsche SE. The Munich company builds small unmanned aerial systems equipped with vertical take-off and landing functionality and commercial and defense use cases.
Diligent Robotics raised $25M in funding led by Canaan, with True Ventures, DNX Ventures, Next Coast Ventures participating and Northwestern Medicine Innovation joining as a new strategic investor. The Austin-based company builds a humanoid robot that performs non-patient-facing tasks in hospitals.
Vsim raised $21.5M in Seed funding led by EQT Ventures. The Manchester, England-based company is building technology that allows robotics companies to rapidly build physics simulations to help accelerate their research, reduce costs, and drive innovation.
Darkhive raised a $21M Series A funding round led by Ten Eleven Ventures. The San Antonio, Texas company is developing lightweight, short- and mid-range reconnaissance drones supported by a proprietary software continuous delivery platform.
Bot Auto closed a $20M “Pre-A” funding round led by Brightway Future Capital, Cherubic Ventures, EnvisionX Capital, First Star Ventures, Linear Capital, M31 Capital, Taihill Venture, Uphonest Capital, and Welight Capital. The Houston company is building autonomous trucking technology.
Inbolt raised $16.7M in Series A funding led by Exor Ventures, with participation from MIG Capital, SOSV, BNP Paribas Développement and Bpifrance. The Parisian company leverages AI to deliver a software-only vision solution for industrial robot guidance, using any standard 3D camera.
Maritime Robotics raised $12M in funding co-led by NRP Zero and Nysnø Climate Investment, a Norwegian state-owned fund. The Trondheim, Norway-based company is building uncrewed surface vehicles and autonomous navigation systems for the maritime industry.
HavocAI raised a $11M Seed round co-led by Scout Ventures and Trousdale Ventures, with participation from Outlander VC, The Veteran Fund, BV.VC, Decisive Point, Alumni Ventures, and New North Ventures. The Providence, Rhode Island company is building technology to control autonomous surface vessels at scale.
Leap.AI raised $10.7M in funding led by the Scottish National Investment Bank, Mercia Ventures, and WA Capital. The Aberdeen, Scotland company designs and builds robotic pick-and-place systems for the food industry.
Remora Robotics raised $7.6M in funding led by Frøy Kapital, with participation from existing investors Grieg Kapital, Momentum, and Singularity. The Norwegian company is building technology capable of autonomously cleaning nets used on fish farms.
Reactive Robotics raised a $5.6M funding round led by Dr. Doll, the TQ Group, Henrik Schunk, Stephan Huber, and the EIC Fund. The Munich company is building robotic mobility assistance technology for use in hospitals and other care settings.
Reshape Automation raised $5M in Seed funding led by Ironspring Ventures, with participation from Haystack, Supply Chain Ventures, Remus Capital, Expansion VC, and others. The San Francisco company is building an AI-powered automation marketplace stocked with autonomous mobile robots, robot arms, components, and more to help manufacturing and logistics businesses adopt robotics solutions.
Pickommerce announced that it had raised $3.4M in funding led by IL Ventures, with participation from InNegev, Fusion VC, the Israel Innovation Authority, and strategic investor ZIM Ventures. The Petah Tikva, Israel-based company is building piece-picking robots for use in warehouses.
Do you have questions, feedback, or a funding round to announce? Get in touch at stateofrobotics@fprimecapital.com