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Robotics investments recap: July 2020

By Eugene Demaitre | August 12, 2020


Despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis and simmering trade tensions, robotics companies received more than $1.9 billion in funding in July 2020. As usual lately, autonomous vehicles led the way, followed by drones, robots for manufacturing, and healthcare systems.

Second-quarter venture funding reportedly declined in North America, and some regions, such as Southeast Asia, may have a lag before they feel the full effects of macroeconomic slowdowns. However, The Robot Report tracked a total of 47 transactions in July 2020, close to the 49 transactions worth about $1.9 billion last month and the 49 transactions worth $1.1 billion in July 2019. Shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic have eased in some parts of the world, and investor interest in automation remained steady.

Here are the robotics companies that received funding last month, in millions of U.S. dollars, where amounts were publicly available.

Robotics investments, July 2020

CompanyAmt. (M$)TypeInvestor, partnerDateTechnology
Activ Surgical Inc.15ventureArtis VenturesJuly 16surgical robots
Aidin RoboticsseedFuturePlayJuly 21sensors
AMBPRshare purchaseCGGJuly 8infrastructure repair
Anduril Industries Inc.200Series CAndreessen HorowitzJuly 21drone surveillance
Beijing Rosenbot Technology Co.pre-Series AJuly 7surgical robots
Botsandus5.96Series AKindred Capital, Capnamic VenturesJuly 6greeter robot
Braintree TechnologiesinvestmentPetronas VenturesJuly 1drone inspection
Chenjing TechnologyangelVolcanics VentureJuly 23spatial intelligence
Dexterity Inc.56.2Series AKleiner PerkinsJuly 21pick and pack
Ecoppia40investmentCIM GroupJuly 21solar panel cleaning
Efort Intelligent Equipment Co.118IPOJuly 7industrial automation
Emoshape Inc.investmentAscend Venture CapitalJuly 17emotion chip
FLIR Systems Inc.494notes offeringJuly 20mobile robots
GoTo Global19Series BAdam NeumannJuly 15autonomous vehicles
Guangzhou Xiaopeng Motors Technology Co.500Series CAspex Management, Sequoia Capital China, Hillhouse Capital, Coatue ManagementJuly 18autonomous vehicles
Huake Precision (Beijing) Medical Technology Co.investmentMedtronicJuly 20surgical robots
iMotion Automotive Technology Co.14Series B1CCB InternationalJuly 2autonomous vehicles
InOrbit Inc.2.6seedANIMO VenturesJuly 9cloud management
Inovo Robotics1.89investmentForesight Group, Williams Advanced EngineeringJuly 29collaborative robot
Kemaro AGSeries ASpicehaus Swiss Venture FundJuly 10cleaning robots
LightelligenceSeries A+Baidu VenturesJuly 6optical chips
MastOR SAS3.37investmentSofinnova Partners MD Start III FundJuly 2surgical robots
mvmtAIpre-seedJuly 13machine vision
Nanjing Estun Automation Co.143share saleChina General Technology (Group) Holdings Co., Hubei Xiaomi Changjiang Industrial Fund PartnershipJuly 24industrial automation
NDR Medical Technology Pte. Ltd.5.76Series AMicroport Scientific Corp.July 20surgical robots
Propellor Aero18Series BBlackbird VenturesJuly 21drone inspection
Pudu Technology Inc.15Series BMeituaan-DianpingJuly 1indoor delivery
Qinglei TechnologyinvestmentZhenFund, Ceyuan VentureJuly 6radar sensors
ReWalk Robotics Ltd.9share saleJuly 1exoskeleton
RightHand Robotics Inc.6debt financingJuly 6grippers
Sea Machines Robotics Inc.14.9Series BHuntington Ingalls IndustriesJuly 22marine robotics
SeizetSeries ABytedanceJuly 31machine vision
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.46.29share saleJuly 5processors
Skydio Inc.100Series CNext47July 14drones
Somatic0.125seedJuly 2cleaning robots
Standard Robots Co.14.3Series BLightspeed China Partners, Source Code CapitalJuly 31industrial automation
Taranis-Visual Ltd.30Series CVertex Growth, Orion FundJuly 21drone data
TeeVR4.19Series AKorean Development BankJuly 31mapping robot
Tianjin Deepinfar Occean Technology17Series B+SDIC, Minsheng Securities, Tianjin TEDA Science and Technology InvestmentJuly 10marine robotics
TransEnterix Inc.13stock saleJuly 1surgical robots
TuSimple LLCinvestmentNavistar International Corp.July 15autonomous trucks
Zhaoguan Electronics 43.05investmentJuly 24AI processors

PitchBook reported that Q2 merger activity remained strong in Europe. The table below lists the six mergers and acquisitions from July 2020, in comparison with seven in June 2020 and eight a year ago. Amounts were not specified.

Robotics acquisitions, July 2020

CompanyAcquirer, partnerDateTechnology
Duke Robotics Inc.UAS Drone Corp.July 1defense drones
Forssea RoboticsIfremerJuly 29marine robotics
FORWARDttc GmbHavateramedical GmbHJuly 30surgical robots
MedicreaMedtronicJuly 15surgical robots
VayaVision Sensing Ltd.LeddarTechJuly 7sensors
Velodyne Lidar Inc.Graf Industrial Corp.July 2sensors

Self-driving cars, trucks keep rolling

Autonomous vehicle technologies raised more than $533 million in July 2020. The largest single robotics transaction of the past month was the $500 million Series C round of Guangzhou, China-based Xiaopeng Motors Technology Co., also known as Xpeng Motors. The maker of electric and self-driving cars had raised $400 million in November 2019 and also announced a $100 million U.S. initial public offering (IPO) in August 2020.

Xpeng Motors raises $400M for electric, autonomous vehicles

The G3 electric SUV and the P7 car with driver-assist capabilities. Source: Xpeng Motors

Adam Neumann, founder of WeWork, led Series B investment of $19 million in GoTo Global. Formerly known as Car2Go, Tel Aviv, Israel-based GoTo Global offers ride-sharing services and is supporting autonomous vehicle research. Suzhou, China-based iMotion Automotive Technology Ltd. raised $14 million toward ramping up to mass production of automated driving systems.

Vehicle manufacturer Navistar International Corp. has partnered with TuSimple LLC, which has been developing self-driving trucks. It also invested an unspecified amount in San Diego-based TuSimple, but TechCrunch had noted that the company was looking for $250 million to scale up production.

Industrial automation makes money in July 2020

Companies supplying robots for manufacturing and supply chain applications raised more than $325 million last month, as automotive demand began to rebound from pandemic shutdowns. Nanjing, China-based Estun Automation Co., which supplies industrial controls and welding robots, last month said it is raising $143 million.


Wuhu, China-based Efort Intelligent Equipment Co. filed for an initial public offering (IPO) of $118 million with the Shanghai stock exchange for the STAR Market. Also in China, Standard Robots in Shenzhen raised Series B funding of $14.3 million for mobile robotic systems for logistics and inspection.

Also in July 2020, Dexterity Inc. in Redwood City, Calif., obtained $56.2 million in Series A funding as it emerged from stealth with its “full stack” for robotic picking and packing. Somerville, Mass.-based gripper maker RightHand Robotics Inc. secured $6 million in financing.

Guldford, U.K.-based collaborative robot maker Inovo Robotics received $1.89 million, while Shenzhen-based machine vision firm Seizet obtained unspecified Series A funding.

July 2020 Tracxn

Field robotics find funding

Suppliers of robots and drones for agriculture, energy, and military uses raised close to $1 billion in July 2020. FLIR Systems Inc. announced a notes offering of $494 million. The Arlington, Va.-based company makes a variety of airborne, ground-based, and marine systems for the public safety, defense, and utility industries.

Andreessen Horowitz led $200 million in Series C funding for Irvine, Calif.-based Anduril Industries Inc., which provides surveillance technologies, including aerial drones. Redwood City, Calif.-based Skydio Inc., which makes consumer, enterprise, and public-sector drones, raised $100 million in Series C funding to accelerate product development and market growth.


Also in the national security space, UAS Drone Corp. acquired Duke Robotics Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for an undisclosed amount.

Ecoppia in Herzeliya, Israel, got investment of $40 million for its solar panel-cleaning robots. CMG has acquired shares in AMBPR, a startup in Saint-Gaudens, France, developing autonomous robots for infrastructure inspection and cleaning of ship hulls.

Tel Aviv, Israel-based Taranis-Visual Ltd., which analyzes drone data for agriculture,  raised $30 million in Series C funding  in July 2020. Petronas Ventures led an unspecified investment in agbotics developer Braintree Technologies Sdn. Bhd., its first in Malaysia. Denver-based Propellor Aero received $18 million in Series B funding for mine-mapping drones.

Beijing-based marine robotics maker Tianjin Deepinfar Ocean Technology closed a $17 million Series B+ round. Also in nautical systems, Huntington Ingalls Industries led the $14.9 million in Series B funding for Sea Machines Robotics Inc. in Boston. Ifremer acquired Paris-based Forssea Robotics for an unspecified sum.

Surgical robots sew up more cash in July 2020

Despite a decline in medical device deals, healthcare robotics companies reported more than $61 million in funding last month. Boston-based Activ Surgical Inc. raised $15 million in venture funding as it commercializes its ActivEdge surgical platform. TransEnterix Inc. in Research Triangle Park, N.C., offered $13 million in stock as it continues work on its vision-guided surgical system.


Yokneam, Israel-based exoskeleton maker ReWalk Robotics Ltd. raised $9 million in July 2020. Back to surgical robots, NDR Medical Technology Pte. Ltd. in Singapore received $5.76 million in Series A funding, and MastOR SAS in Paris raised $3.37 million for its laparoscopy assistance system.

Beijing-based orthopedic surgical robot firm Rosenbot Technology Co. raised unspecified Series A funding, while Medtronic PLC invested in Huake Precision Medical Technology Co., also known as Sinovation Medical. Medtronic also acquired Lyon, France-based spinal surgery company Medicrea and Menlo Park, Calif.-based medical device maker Intersect ENT.

Avateramedical GmbH acquired Hannover, Germany-based surgical robotics firm FORWARDttc GmbH for an unspecified amount.

AI processors, sensors, and software get investment

Robotics components providers raised nearly $90 million in July 2020. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) sold $46.29 million in shares, and Zhaogun Electronics received $43.05 million in funding. Both companies make processors for artificial intelligence and are based in Shanghai.


LeddarTech acquired fellow automotive perception provider VayaVision in Tel Aviv for an unspecified amount. Similarly, Graf Industrial Corp. acquired lidar sensor maker Velodyne Lidar Inc. of Morgan Hill, Calif.

South Korean sensor company Adin Robotics obtained seed funding, and New York-based “emotion chip” company Emoshape Inc. received unspecified funding.

Baidu Ventures led Series A+ funding for Lightelligence, which is working on optical chips and has offices in Shanghai and Boston. Beijing-based radar firm Qinglei Technology reportedly closed “multimillion-yuan” angel funding in July 2020.

On the software side, InOrbit Inc. in Mountain View, Calif., said it raised seed funding of $2.6 million. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company provides a cloud-based robot fleet-management platform.

In addition, Guangzhou, China-based Chenjing Technology raised angel funding for its “spatial intelligence” software. Santa Monica, Calif.-based mvmtAI raised pre-seed funding as it develops machine vision technology.

Service robots clean up for July 2020

Service robots, from automated wait staff to cleaning robots, raised about $22 million in July 2020. Shenzhen-based indoor delivery robot maker Pudu Technology Inc. closed a Series B round of $15 million. London-based greeter robot firm BotsAndUs raised $5.96 million in Series A funding and partnered with Heathrow Airport and British Airways.

The novel coronavirus pandemic has increased interest in cleaning and disinfection robots. New York-based Somatic obtained $125,000 in seed funding for its bathroom-cleaning robots, and Swiss floor-scrubbing robot maker Kemaro AG raised unspecified Series A funding for European expansion.



Editors’ 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 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 a number of public and private sources. These include press releases from corporations and investment groups, corporate briefings, industry analysts, and association and industry publications, including PitchBook and Tracxn. 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.

About The Author

Eugene Demaitre

Eugene Demaitre is editorial director of the robotics group at WTWH Media. He was senior editor of The Robot Report from 2019 to 2020 and editorial director of Robotics 24/7 from 2020 to 2023. Prior to working at WTWH Media, Demaitre was an editor at BNA (now part of Bloomberg), Computerworld, TechTarget, and Robotics Business Review.

Demaitre has participated in robotics webcasts, podcasts, and conferences worldwide. He has a master's from the George Washington University and lives in the Boston area.

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