It was a busy first half of the year acquisition-wise for robotics companies. The Robot Report tracked 30 mergers and acquisitions through the first half of 2019. Robotics companies also raised more than $15.6 billion during the first half of 2019.
As part of our first-half-of-the-year recap, we have already shared the biggest stories and major investments that took place. Now it’s time to look back at the more notable acquisitions that occurred from January 2019 to June 2019.
The chart below is listed in alphabetical order, but the first acquisition that comes to mind is Johnson & Johnson buying Auris Health for $3.4 billion. The deal includes an additional $2.35 billion in milestone-based contingent payments, so the total value of the deal could reach approximately $5.75 billion when all is said and done.
Auris is surgical robotics pioneer Dr. Fred Moll’s newest robotic surgical play. Boy, it must be nice to be Dr. Fred Moll. The acquisition is one of the 10 largest VC-backed, private M&A transactions of all-time and is both the largest robotics and largest medtech private M&A deal in history. Kiva Systems previously held the title for largest robotics acquisition when it was purchased by Amazon for $775 million.
Amazon made a big move when it acquired Canvas Technology for an undisclosed amount in April. This deal makes perfect sense for Amazon and will help augment the person-to-goods workflow in its warehouses. Canvas uses “spatial AI” to enable mobile robots to navigate safely around people in dynamic environments. Amazon will certainly use this technology for its warehouse robots, but it could also apply Canvas’ technology to its Scout delivery robots.
FLIR Systems continued its buying ways with a $382 million cash offer to acquire Endeavor Robotics in February. FLIR is looking to capitalize on the Department of Defense’s plan to increase spending on unmanned systems. In fiscal 2019, for example, the DoD has a budget of $9.6 billion for unmanned systems, which is a 28 percent increase over 2018 spending.
Here is a look at 10 notable acquisitions from the first half of 2019. You can read coverage of each acquisition by clicking the “Read Story” links in the chart below. To stay updated about the latest robotics investments and acquisitions, check out The Robot Report‘s Investment Section.
| Purchaser | Purchased | Date | Amount | Technology | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | Canvas Technology | April 11 | N/A | Mobile Robot Navigation | Read Story |
| Apple | Drive.ai | June 26 | N/A | Autonomous Vehicles | Read Story |
| Aurora Innovations | Blackmore Sensors | May 23 | N/A | LiDAR | Read Story |
| Boston Dynamics | Kinema Systems | April 2 | N/A | 3D Vision | Read Story |
| FLIR Systems | Endeavor Robotics | February 13 | $382M | Military Robotics | Read Story |
| J&J | Auris Health | February 13 | $3.4B | Healthcare Robotics | Read Story |
| Hitachi | JR Automation | April 24 | $1.43B | Industrial Integrator | Read Story |
| iRobot | Root Robotics | June 20 | N/A | Educational Robots | Read Story |
| OnRobot | Blue Workforce | April 15 | N/A | Robotic Grippers | Read Story |
| Stryker | Orthospace | March 14 | $220M | Healthcare Robotics | Read Story |
Nice to see what is happing in the robotics world.
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