|
Listen to this article  |
Figure 1: Global Robot Investment – Last 12 Months
In April 2024, robotics investment reached at least $466 million as a result of 36 funding rounds. April investment was below recent months and the lowest since November 2023. Total investment in April 2024 was well below the trailing 12-month average of $1.1 billion (see Figure 1).
Collaborative robot providers landed the two largest funding rounds. As noted in Table 1, Collaborative Robotics’ $100 million Series B round was the largest investment in April. As its name suggests, the California-based company develops collaborative robots and the software that enables their use. China’s Rokae, a provider of collaborative and industrial robots, secured $70 million in April.
April 2024 Robot Investment
| company | Amount ($) | round | Country | technology |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 rows | $1,605,004 | Series A | Estonia | Outdoor Mobile Robot |
| Accelerating evolution | estimate | Series A | China | Exoskeleton |
| Adagi Robotics | $500,000 | Preseed | united states of america | software |
| Adamo Robot | estimate | other | Spain | Rehabilitation Robot |
| Allen Control Systems | $12,000,000 | seed | united states of america | Defense Technology |
| Asensus Surgery | $20,000,000 | other | united states of america | Surgical Robots |
| Autopilot | $1,525,400 | other | united states of america | software |
| Collaborative robots | $100 million | Series B | united states of america | Collaborative robots |
| Control One AI | $350,000 | Preseed | India | software |
| Singun | $5 million | other | united states of america | Mobile robot |
| Excel Land AI (Uditec) | estimate | other | China | Mobile robot |
| Formic Technologies | estimate | other | united states of america | Collaborative robots |
| Photo Kite | $10,990,738 | Series B | Switzerland | Drone |
| Ekitbot | estimate | seed | China | Mobile robot |
| Innoprior (Harbin Gong Zilin) | $1,250,000 | seed | China | Mobile robot |
| K Scale Lab | $500,000 | Preseed | united states of america | humanoid |
| Kalman | $365,330 | seed | South Korea | Quadrupedal, unmanned underwater vehicle |
| Kraken Robotics | $57,768,023 | other | Canada | Sensing |
| Meng You Intelligence | $3,000,000 | seed | China | Robot Toys |
| Mentee Robotics | $17,000,000 | other | Israel | humanoid |
| Moing Robotics | $13,824,757 | Series A | China | Mobile manipulator |
| Olivau Robotics | $1,303,458 | Preseed | Germany | software |
| Pipe Dream Lab | $13,000,000 | other | united states of america | Mobile robot |
| Pivot Robot | $500,000 | Preseed | united states of america | software |
| Planis Technologies | $5,157,511 | seed | India | Unmanned Underwater Vehicle |
| Lion Robotics | estimate | seed | South Korea | Quadrupeds |
| Rise Robotics | $14,364,512 | other | united states of america | Motor Control |
| Reisenlighten | estimate | seed | China | software |
| Robo Burger | $1.5 million | other | united states of america | Other Commerce |
| Robominder | estimate | seed | England | software |
| Rokae | $70,506,944 | other | China | Collaborative robots |
| Servo Robotics | $40,000,000 | other | united states of america | Mobile robot |
| SpinEM Robotics | $10,703,452 | Series A | France | Surgical Robots |
| Terra Clear | $15,306,337 | Series A | united states of america | Mobile robot |
| Voyager Technology | $13,815,971 | Series B | China | Sensing |
Looking at other companies that received large funding rounds, we see a wide variety of company types receiving funding in April 2024. For example, Kraken Robotics, a developer of unmanned underwater vehicles and sensors, raised $45 million, and Serve Robotics, a provider of autonomous mobile delivery robots, raised $40 million. Other top companies receiving funding in April include Asensus Surgical ($20 million), a supplier of robotic laparoscopic systems, and Mentee Robotics ($17 million), a humanoid robot provider.
Similar to the previous month, companies based in the United States and China raised the largest amounts of funding, $239 million and $115 million, respectively (see Figure 2). Companies based in the United States (14) and China (9) also raised the majority of rounds.
In terms of both the total number of investments and total funding, most fell into the “other” category, an umbrella term for investment types outside of the typical fundraising stages a company goes through before an IPO (e.g., seed, Series A, B, C, D, E, F funding).
Figure 2: Robot investment by country in April 2024.
Figure 3: Robotics funding by investment type and amount, April 2024.
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.
Investors and Investments
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 and Intelligent Systems 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.
