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Robotics investment exceeded $2.1 billion in May 2024, with funding provided to 38 companies. $2.1 billion is the highest monthly funding ever in 2024 and significantly higher than the trailing 12-month average of $1.2 billion. Total funding in robotics through May 2024 is approximately $5.7 billion.
Two of the largest investments in the robotics space came from autonomous driving companies: UK-based Wayve raised $1 billion in Series C, and Massachusetts-based Motional raised $475 million from Hyundai. Motional’s funding comes just weeks after partner Aptiv withdrew its funding after suffering millions of dollars in losses.
Drone-related companies also attracted significant investments in May 2024. Aerodome, a developer of drone-based data collection and analysis systems for emergency response operations, raised $21.5 million in Series A. Neros Technologies, a provider of autonomous drones and services for defense operations, and SwissDrones, a developer of unmanned helicopter systems for beyond visual line of sight, raised $10.9 million (Seed) and $10 million (Series B), respectively.
Unlike previous months, companies based in the US and China did not receive the largest funding amounts. The UK came out on top in May 2024, thanks to Wayve’s massive $1 billion round. Companies based in the US and China received $852 million and $138 million in investments, respectively. More generally, companies based in the US (13) and China (8) received the majority of rounds in May.
Of the $2.1 billion total raised in May, two Series C rounds accounted for $1.1 billion. The remaining funding classes were all announced for May 2024.
| company | amount | round | Country | technology | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accumino | $4,049,694 | other | we | sensor | ||
| Aerodome | $21,500,000 | Series A | we | Drone Services | ||
| robot | $2,571,149 | seed | South Korea | Entertainment Robot | ||
| Bharat Lohan | $2,298,887 | other | India | Drone Services | ||
| Bosso | $400,000 | Preseed | Italy | Robot Arm | ||
| Carbon Robotics | $85,000,000 | Series C | we | Agrobotics | ||
| Elephant Robotics | estimate | Series B | China | Robot Arm | ||
| Esper Bionics | $150,000 | other | we | Prosthetics | ||
| Gattic | $30,000,000 | other | we | Self-driving cars | ||
| Gauss Robot | $50,000,000 | Series D | China | Indoor Mobile Robot | ||
| Gideon | $4,599,889 | other | Croatia | Indoor Mobile Robot | ||
| Guimu Robot | estimate | Series A | China | Outdoor mobile robots, underwater drones | ||
| Intermag | estimate | other | South Korea | Surgical Robots | ||
| Intramotif | $6,250,918 | other | we | Self-driving cars | ||
| KC Robot (Zhejiang KC Intelligent Technology) | estimate | Series A | China | sensor | ||
| Kiss Tech | $958,413 | Series A | Japan | Outdoor Mobile Robot | ||
| Clever Bot | $9.1 million | Series A | we | Outdoor Mobile Robot | ||
| To imitate | $2,421,651 | Preseed | Switzerland | Robot arm, end effector | ||
| Motional | $475 million | other | we | Self-driving cars | ||
| move on | $300,000 | seed | turkey | sensor | ||
| Neros Technologies | $10,900,000 | seed | we | Drone Services | ||
| Overland AI | $10,000,000 | seed | we | sensor | ||
| Phigen Robotics | $30,000,000 | Series B | China | sensor | ||
| Pickle Robot | $15,000,000 | Series B | we | Trailer unloading robot | ||
| Real-time Robotics | estimate | Series B | we | software | ||
| Silana | $1,628,399 | seed | Austria | Robot Arm | ||
| Solinas’ sincerity | estimate | other | India | Outdoor Mobile Robot | ||
| Styal | $14,070,684 | Series A | China | Robot Arm | ||
| Swiss Drone | $10,000,000 | Series B | Switzerland | Drone Services | ||
| Tech Eagle Innovations | estimate | other | India | Drone Services | ||
| Bot Company | $150 million | seed | we | Household robots | ||
| Yudie | $14,070,684 | seed | China | Indoor/outdoor mobile robot | ||
| Infinite Robotics | $5 million | seed | Israel | Indoor Mobile Manipulator | ||
| Wave | $1.05 billion | Series C | England | sensor | ||
| Wafer Robotics | estimate | seed | Singapore | Educational Robots | ||
| XSQUARE Technologies | $7,786,458 | Series A | Singapore | Indoor Mobile Robot | ||
| Extend | $40,000,000 | Series B | Israel | Drone Services | ||
| Zhuji Dynamics | estimate | other | China | Indoor/outdoor mobile robots, humanoids |
Editor’s Note
What defines an investment in robotics? The answer to this question is central to quantifying any investment with any degree of rigor. To make investment analysis consistent, repeatable, and valuable, it is important to remove as much subjectivity as possible during the evaluation process. This starts with defining terms and explaining assumptions.
investment
Investments in robotics must come from venture capital firms, corporate investment groups, angel investors, or other sources of funding. Friends and family investments, government/non-government grants, and crowdsourced funding are excluded.
Robotics company
Robotics companies must generate, or expect to generate, revenues from the production of robotic products (that sense, analyze, and act in the physical world), robotic hardware or software subsystems and enabling technologies, or services that support robotic devices. For the purposes of this analysis, autonomous vehicles (including the technology that supports their autonomy) and drones are considered robots, but 3D printers, CNC systems, and various types of “hard” automation are not considered robots.
Companies that are “robot” in name only, or that use the term “robot” to describe products or services that do not enable or support devices that operate in the physical world, are excluded. Examples include “software robots” and robotic process automation. Many companies have multiple locations in multiple countries. Company locations shown in the analysis are based on their publicly-stated headquarters as listed in legal documents, press releases, etc.
verification
Funding information is collected from multiple public and private sources, including company and investment group press releases, company fairs, market research firms, association and industry publications, as well as from conference and seminar sessions and personal interviews with industry representatives, investors, etc. Investments that cannot be verified are excluded and investment amounts are estimated where they are not stated or are unknown.
