May 2023 robotics funding equaled $686 million, the result of 61 investments. With the May investments, the 2023 robotics funding comes to approximately $4 billion.
Funding topped $1.63 billion in April, $526 million in March, $620 million in February and $521 million in January.
Table 1: May 2023 Robotics Funding and Investment
| Company | Amount | Round | Country | Technology | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abbott Robotics (Expert Robotics) | Estimate | Other | China | Automated Guide Vehicles | Abbot Robotics develops autonomus guided vehicles to clients in the photovoltaic, lithium battery and semiconductor industries. |
| ADASKY | $30,000,000 | Series B | Israel | Sensors / Sensing Systems, Video / Vision / Imaging, Software | ADASKY builds far-infrared sensor and intelligent thermal sensing technologies for autonomous electric vehicles. |
| AirMatrix | Estimate | Other | Canada | Software | AirMatrix develops drone logistics software for the autonomous operation of commercial drones. |
| AMP Robotics | $8,000,000 | Series C | USA | Articulated Robots, Sensors / Sensing Systems | AMP Robotics offers robotics solutions for sorting and other applications for the recycling industry sector. |
| ANYbotics | $55,780,288 | Series B | Switzerland | Quadrupeds | ANYbotics specializes in the development of advanced legged robots for industrial inspection. |
| Ascento | $215,389 | Other | Switzerland | Outdoor Mobile Platforms, Sensors / Sensing Systems | Ascento offers autonomous outdoor security patrol robots as a service. |
| AutoCore | Estimate | Series A | China | Software | AutoCore is a provider of intelligent middleware for automotive appliations, including autonomous vehicles. |
| Blue Ocean Robot | Estimate | Series B | China | Indoor Mobile Platforms, Software | Blue Ocean Robot is a provider of mobile robots and management systems for logistics operations. |
| Bosin Technology | Estimate | Series A | China | Gantry Robots | Bosin Technology is a producer of heavy-duty gantry robotic systems. |
| Candela | Estimate | Other | China | Indoor Mobile Platforms | Candela is a robotic hardware and software design company. |
| Changyao Innovation | Estimate | Other | China | Home Care / Lawn Care / Pool Care | Changyao Innovation manufacturers robotic lawn mowers. |
| Contoro Robotics | $6,000,000 | Other | USA | Mobile/Fixed Telepresence, Human Robot Interaction \ Haptics | Contoro Robotics develops robotics teleoperation systems. |
| Didi Woya | Estimate | Other | China | Autonomous Transportation Systems, Sensors / Sensing Systems, Software | Didi Woya develops technologies for self-driving vehicles. |
| Drobot | $25,000 | Other | USA | Indoor Mobile Platforms | Drobot is developing affordable autonomous mobile robots. |
| ecoRobotix | $51,673,897 | Series B | Switzerland | Sensors / Sensing Systems | ecoRobotix provides AI powered plant-by-plant recognition and ultra-high precision crop treatment. |
| EnerComp Solutions | $316,684 | Seed | India | Drones, Operator Services - UAVs, Data Acquisition / Processing / Management | EnerComp Solutions is a drone manufacturing, services, and AI tech startup. |
| Foretellix | $43,000,000 | Series C | Israel | Sensors / Sensing Systems, Software | Foretellix develops intelligent automation and analytic tools to orchestrate and monitor driving scenarios including edge cases for deployment of ADAS & autonomous vehicles. |
| Freespace Robotics | $250,000 | Pre-Seed | USA | Automated Storage & Retrieval Systems | Freespace Robotics is a warehouse automation company that provides automated storage and retrieval systems. |
| Gaussian Robotics | Estimate | Other | Singapore | Indoor Mobile Platforms | Gaussian Robotics produces autonomous floor cleaning robotics. |
| GITAI | $28,715,666 | Series B | Japan | Sensors / Sensing Systems, Software, Controllers | GITAI develops remote controlled robots to replace astronaut's operations in commercial space stations. |
| Hanyang Technology | $20,000,000 | Series A | China | Outdoor Mobile Platforms | Hanyang Technology produces autonomous mobile robots for consumer and commercial applications. |
| HKT Robot | Estimate | Other | China | SCARA Robots, Actuators / Motors / Servos | HKT Robot offers industrial robotis, servo drives, motors and more. |
| Hong Jing Drive | Estimate | Series B | China | Sensors / Sensing Systems, Software, Microcontrollers / Microprocessors / SoC | Hong Jing Drive provides a computing platform for autonomous vehicles. |
| Human in Motion Robotics | $10,000,000 | Series A | Canada | Exoskeletons, Rehabilitation / Therapeutic Systems | Human in Motion Robotics develops a wearable lower-limb exoskeleton system. |
| Hydromea | $2,182,429 | Other | Switzerland | Unmanned Underwater Vehicles, Operator Services - UUVs | Hydromea provides submerged asset inspections services using remote controlled underwater drone platforms. |
| i-KINGTEC | Estimate | Series C | China | Drones | i-KINGTEC is a developer of intelligent industrial drones and UAV systems. |
| ideaForge | Estimate | Other | India | Drones | IdeaForge is a drone manucaturing company for mapping, security, and surveillance applications. |
| Intramotev | $200,000 | Other | USA | Outdoor Mobile Platforms, Sensors / Sensing Systems, Software | Intramotev manufactures autonomous battery-electric railcars. |
| KEMARO AG | Estimate | Other | Switzerland | Indoor Mobile Platforms | KEMARO AG produces autonomous mobile robots for industrial cleaning. |
| Kiwibot | $6,083,498 | Other | USA | Outdoor Mobile Platforms | Kiwibot designs and manufactures a fleet of mobile robots used for food delivery on college campuses. |
| Kossi | $14,470,523 | Series B | China | Controllers, Actuators / Motors / Servos, Articulated Robots | Kesi specializes in motion controllers and servo drives for robotics systems. |
| LoopX | Estimate | Other | Canada | Sensors / Sensing Systems, Controllers, Software | LoopX offers system solutions for autonomous vehicles, mining equipment manufacturers, and mining technology companies. |
| MeBotX | Estimate | Series A | China | Exoskeletons | MeBotX produces robotic exxoskeletons. |
| Miso Robotics | Estimate | Other | USA | Articulated Robots, Other Industrial | Miso Robotics provides robotics and intelligent automation solutions to the commercial foodservice industry. |
| Mocang Robot | $2,854,044 | Seed | China | Indoor Mobile Platforms | Mocang Robotics produces intelligent storage robots for warehouse operations. |
| Moon Surgical | $55,400,000 | Series B | France | Surgical Systems | Moon Surgical develops surgical robotics systems robotic featuring collaborative and adaptive robotics. |
| Pashoot Robotics | $1,500,000 | Pre-Seed | Israel | Collaborative Robots | Pashoot Robotics is developing robots for manufacturing that understand and adapt to their environment, using computer vision and AI. |
| PuduTech | Estimate | Series C | China | PuduTech produces autonomous delivery, cleaning and disinfection robots for the home care, food service, and catering industries. | |
| Quantum Systems | $20,000,000 | Other | Germany | Drones | Quantum-Systems develops advanced multi-sensor, unmanned aerial vehicles that collect aerial intelligence. |
| Realman | Estimate | Series A | China | Collaborative Robots | Realman focuses on the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of ultra-lightweight humanoid robotic arms. |
| Saha Robotics | $3,000,000 | Seed | Turkey | Indoor Mobile Platforms | Saha Robotics provides autonomous, cloud connected, mobile robots for delivery applications. |
| Seaweed Generation | $365,467 | Other | UK | Unmanned Underwater Vehicles | Seaweed Generation is a developer of robotic technologies for seaweed cultivation systems.. |
| Senior Automation | Estimate | Other | China | Autonomous Transportation Systems | Senior Automation focuses on the research and commercialization of driverless truck technology for logistics applications. |
| Slip Robotics | $10,646,078 | Other | USA | Indoor Mobile Platforms | Slip Robotics produces autonomous mobile robots used for unloading trucks. |
| sliQue Robotics | Estimate | Seed | USA | Indoor Mobile Platforms | sliQue Robotics produces mobile autonomous robots for delivery and cleaning applications. |
| Sniffer Robotics | Estimate | Seed | USA | Operator Services - UAVs, Data Acquisition / Processing / Management | Sniffer Robotics provides drone based services for detecting land-based methane leaks and quantifying emissions. |
| Sphaira | Estimate | Other | Germany | Indoor Mobile Platforms | Sphaira Medical produces autonomous patient mobility platforms. |
| StreetDrone | $212,629 | Other | UK | Software | StreetDrone is a full-stack software company with particular expertise in driverless solutions for low-speed and specialist operating domains. |
| Tefa Robotics | Estimate | Seed | South Korea | Software | Tefa Robotics creates low-code solutions for industrial robot control. |
| Urban Ray | Estimate | Pre-Seed | Germany | Drones, Batteries / Power Supplies | Urban Ray offers last-mile parcel deliveries by drones with automated landing and storage stations on the ground. |
| Vantage Robotics | $20,000,000 | Other | USA | Drones | Vantage Robotics produces unmanned aerial vehicles for defense and industrial applications. |
| Vantage Robotics | Estimate | Other | USA | Drones | Vantage provides robust unmanned aerial vehicles for use in applications critical to national security and secure infrastructure management. |
| Vemcon | $6,435,351 | Other | Germany | Sensors / Sensing Systems, Software, Controllers | Vemcon produces machine control solutions - joysticks, cover driver assistant systems, and virtual operator technologies - that enable autonomously operating machines. |
| Voyager Technology | $14,391,181 | Series B | China | Sensors / Sensing Systems, Video / Vision / Imaging, Software | Voyager Technology is a provider of advanced driving assistant systems and autonomous driving systems solutions. |
| WARGdrones | Estimate | Seed | Germany | Drones | WARGdrones creates automated drone solutions for Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Counter-Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED) operations. |
| Wingcopter | $43,648,585 | Other | Germany | Drones | Wingcopter is a manufacturer of unmanned, eVTOL, fixed-wing aircrafts for commercial and humanitarian applications. |
| Xianwei Medical | Estimate | Other | China | Surgical Systems | Xianwei Medical is a manufacturer of ophthalmic surgical robots. |
| Xin Yihua (Sineva Robot) | Estimate | Seed | China | Indoor Mobile Platforms | Xin Yihua (Sineva Robot) offers autonomus, mobile robots for a variety of commercial and industrial tasks. |
| Yunxiang Commercial | Estimate | Seed | China | Indoor Mobile Platforms | Yunxiang Commercial is a developer of commercial cleaning robots for indoor spaces. |
| Zhihui Robot | Estimate | Seed | China | Articulated Robots, Software | Zhihui Robot offer robotics systems for spray painting applications. |
| Zhiyuan Robotics | Estimate | Seed | China | Humanoids / Bipeds | Zhiyuan Robotics develops and produces general-purpose, intelligent, humanoid robots and other products. |
Companies based in China received the most number of rounds (23) and the greatest investment amount ($257M). Swiss firms also received substantial funding ($111M), followed by Israel ($75M), Germany ($72M), and the USA ($70M).
Makers of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) continue to attract new investment. May 2023 robotics investments were notable for the large number of rounds into producers of AMRs, with funding amounts ranging widely. Slip Robotics, Blue Ocean Robot System, PuduTech, Saha Robotics, Xin Yihua (Sineva Robot) and Candela serve as examples.
Providers of drones, drone-enabled services and enabling technologies continued to attract the attention of the investment community. For example, Vantage Robotics, i-KINGTEC and Quantum Systems each received $20 million in funding, with many other companies attracting lesser amounts.
Figure 1: May 2023 Robotics Investment by Country
Series B rounds accounted for many sizable investments (Figure 2, below). Moon Surgical ($55M), ecoRobotix ($52M), ADASKY ($30M), GITAI ($28M), Blue Ocean Robotics ($25M), AutoCore ($25M), Hanyang Technology ($20M), Kossi ($14M), Voyager Technology ($14M) and Human in Motion Robotics ($10M), serve as examples.
Figure 2: May 2023 Robotics Funding Amounts by Investment Type
Figure 3: May 2023 Robotics Funding Amounts by Investment Number and Amounts
Editor’s note: What defines robotics investments? The answer to this simple question is central in any attempt to quantify them with some degree of rigor. To make investment analyses consistent, repeatable, and valuable, it is critical to wring out as much subjectivity as possible during the evaluation process. This begins with a definition of terms and a description of assumptions.
Investors and investing
Investment should come from venture capital firms, corporate investment groups, angel investors, and other sources. Friends-and-family investments, government/non-governmental agency grants, and crowd-sourced funding are excluded.
Robotics and intelligent systems companies
Robotics companies must generate or expect to generate revenue from the production of robotics products (that sense, analyze, and act in the physical world), hardware or software subsystems and enabling technologies for robots, or services supporting robotics devices. For this analysis, autonomous vehicles (including technologies that support autonomous driving) and drones are considered robots, while 3D printers, CNC systems, and various types of “hard” automation are not.
Companies that are “robotic” in name only, or use the term “robot” to describe products and services that do not enable or support devices acting in the physical world, are excluded. For example, this includes “software robots” and robotic process automation. Many firms have multiple locations in different countries. Company locations given in the analysis are based on the publicly listed headquarters in legal documents, press releases, etc.
Verification
Funding information is collected from several public and private sources. These include press releases from corporations and investment groups, corporate briefings, market research firms, and association and industry publications. In addition, information comes from sessions at conferences and seminars, as well as during private interviews with industry representatives, investors, and others. Unverifiable investments are excluded and estimates are made where investment amounts are not provided or are unclear.
Great article Dan. I hope the US isn’t falling behind as I see all the money invested in foreign robotics companies.