Automata raises $50M for life sciences automation

Automata, a company focused on life sciences automation, raised $50 million in Series B funding. The company plans to use the financing to further develop its lab automation platform, Automata Labs, for use in and outside of the UK.

Automata Labs was created to make scaling up easy for diagnostics labs, drug discovery labs and more. The company claims its system can be implemented within weeks and can automate each stage of workflow. It also offers a flexible robot arm called Eva. Eva has six degrees of freedom and was designed to work on precise and repeatable tasks. It has a less than 3 lb payload (1.25 kg). 

Octopus Ventures led the financing round. Existing investors, like Hummingbird, Latitude Ventures, ABB Technology Ventures and Osomer Capital also participated. The round also included strategic investors, like In-Q-Tel. 

“Automata Labs accelerates human ingenuity, empowering labs and scientists to achieve consistent results faster, on a greater scale, and to ultimately upscale their ambitions,” Jess McCreadie, principal at Octopus Ventures, said. “We are delighted to have led this financing round as Automata represented exactly the type of highly innovative company we invest in and support. We are excited for Automata’s next steps, both within the life sciences industry, and beyond.”

Automata began in 2015, and it was founded by Mostafa ElSayed and Suryansh Chandra, two architects from Zaha Hadid’s research lab. The company’s goal is to enable new opportunities for innovation with automation. 

“For far too long scientists and clinicians have been having to work with overly complex lab solutions whereby the equipment and software are disjointed and difficult to orchestrate,” ElSayed, now the company’s CEO, said. “Solutions are also often too rigid and inappropriate for labs with small geographic footprints. Our next generation technology solves this.”

To date, the company has raised a total of $59.5 million in financing. The company is based in London.