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Despite an ongoing pandemic, a contentious U.S. presidential election, and stalled negotiations over the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union, investments in robotics and related technologies continued in November 2020, if at less than half the value as in the same period last year.

In November 2020, The Robot Report tracked a total of 44 transactions worth about $2.2 billion, in comparison with 52 deals worth $866 million in October 2020 and $4.7 billion in 35 transactions in November 2019. (More than $3 billion in transactions have already been recorded for December 2020.)

As usual for most of the past year, autonomous vehicle companies received the largest share of investment, with 11 transactions worth more than $1.3 billion. Other technologies getting significant funding in the past month included supply chain automation, components and software, and robots for manufacturing.

In November, 41 companies received a total of $1.9 billion in 41 investments. By comparison, there were 43 investments worth $866 million in October 2020 and $4.4 billion in 28 investments in November 2019.

The table below lists robotics company fundings in millions of U.S. dollars, where amounts were publicly available.

Robotics investments, November 2020

Company	Amt. (M$)	Type	Investor, partner	Date	Technology
a2z	1.9	seed		Nov. 19	autonomous vehicles
AEye	23	debt financing		Nov. 9	lidar sensors
Biomotum	0.58	seed		Nov. 9	assistive devices
Canvas	19	investment		Nov. 27	drywall robot
Emotibot Technology Ltd.	30	Series C	BOC International Holdings	Nov. 6	human-robot interaction
Gatik	25	Series A	Wittington Ventures, Innovation Endeavors	Nov. 23	autonomous vehicles
Giraffe360	4.5	investment	LAUNCHub Ventures, Hoxton Ventures	Nov. 17	real estate robot camera
GrAI Matter Labs	14	investment	iBionext	Nov. 23	AI processors
Guangzhou Jifei Technology Co.	183	investment	Baidu Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund Phase II	Nov. 17	agricultural drones
High Lander	3	seed	Paras Defense, AGV Group	Nov. 5	drone fleet management
Home Tech Innovation Inc.	8.1	equity		Nov. 18	kitchen robot
Hypr	10	seed	R7 Ventures	Nov. 30	autonomous vehicle AI
Inceptio Technology	120	investment	CATL	Nov. 9	autonomous trucks
LaunchPoint Technologies	1.81	seed		Nov. 4	drone propulsion
Levitate Technologies Inc.	3.5	Series A		Nov. 5	industrial exoskeleton
Lunewave	7	Series A	FM Capital	Nov. 24	radar and antenna
Maidbot		Series B	Reckitt Benckiser	Nov. 17	service robot
Mech-Mind Robotics Technologies Ltd.	15	Series B+	Source Code Capital, Sequoia Capital China	Nov. 17	industrial exoskeleton
Mega Robot	30	Series B	Sinovation Ventures	Nov. 2	collaborative robots
MegaRobo	30	Series B	Sinovation Ventures	Nov. 4	AI, IoT
Morai Inc.	1.8	Series A	Kakao Ventures, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund	Nov. 19	autonomous vehicle simulation
Movia Robotics Inc.	0.5	investment	Clean Fleet Investors	Nov. 2	educational robots
Nuro	500	Series C	T. Rowe Price Associates	Nov. 9	autonomous vehicles
Opteran Technologies	2.81	seed	IQ Capital	Nov. 24	AI processors
Orca AI	2.6	seed	Playfair Capital	Nov. 9	maritime navigation
Parallel Flight	0.983	seed	StartEngine	Nov. 25	drone inspection
Percepto	45	Series B	Koch Disruptive Technologies	Nov. 24	autonomous inspection
Pickle Robot Co.	2	equity		Nov. 13	parcel handling robot
Plus.ai	100	Series C		Nov. 24	autonomous trucks
Pony.ai	267	venture	Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan	Nov. 3	autonomous vehicles
Provizio	6.2	seed	Bobby Hambrick	Nov. 6	automotive sensors, AI
Psionic	0.5	seed		Nov. 30	lidar sensors
Rapid Robotics Inc.	5	seed	Greycroft, Seed Partners	Nov. 18	machine operator
Sense Photonics Inc.	32.1	Series B		Nov. 10	lidar sensors
Shield AI	52.9	Series C		Nov. 10	surveillance drones
Siera.Ai	4.6	Series A		Nov. 8	mobile robots
SmartGurlz	0.13	seed		Nov. 14	educational robots
TuSimple	350	Series E	Navistar, Volkswagen Group	Nov. 30	autonomous trucks
ULS Robotics		seed	Future Capital, K2VC, Unity Ventures	Nov. 2	industrial exoskeleton
Verity Studios	8.28	Series A	Investiere	Nov. 30	entertainment drones
Yishi Zhi Hao Technology Co.	15.12	Series B	Kai Fu Capital	Nov. 3	visual intelligence

There were only three robotics mergers and acquisitions worth a total of $287 million last month, compared with eight with no values specified in October and six worth at least $330 million a year ago.

Robotics acquisitions, November 2020

Company	Location	Amt. (M$)	Acquirer, partner	Date	Technology
Aeva Labs	Mountain View, Calif.		InterPrivate Acquisition Corp.	Nov. 2	automotive sensors
Haddington Dynamics	Las Vegas	25	Ocado Group	Nov. 2	robot arms
Kindred Systems	San Francisco	262	Ocado Group	Nov. 2	piece picking

Autonomous vehicles roll onward

Nuro’s $500 million Series C round was the largest single transaction of November 2020. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company has been developing autonomous delivery vehicles rather than self-driving passenger cars.

Among the trends of 2020 was increasing investment in autonomous trucks. San Diego-based TuSimple reportedly raised $350 million in Series E funding from Navistar and Volkswagen. Shanghai-based Inceptio Technology raised $120 million, and Cupertino, Calif.-based Plus.ai raised $100 million in Series C funding.

Other autonomous vehicle fundings included the $267 million Series C round for Pony.ai in Fremont, Calif. The startup has partnered with China FAW Group Co. for joint development and mass production.

Gatik in Palo Alto, Calif., raised $25 million in Series A funding as it develops SAE Level 4 delivery vehicles. Gyeongsan, South Korea-based a2z received seed funding of $1.9 million.

Sensors for advanced driver-assist (ADAS) and driverless vehicles also received funding in November 2020. San Francisco-based lidar firm Sense Photonics Inc. raised $32.1 million in Series B funding.

Pleasanton, Calif.-based lidar company AEye reportedly raised $23 million in debt financing, and Tuscon, Ariz.-based radar maker Lunewave obtained $7 million in Series A funding.

Special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) InterPrivate Acquisition Corp. picked up Mountain View, Calif.-based Aeva Labs for an unspecified amount as it takes on Velodyne Lidar Inc. and Luminar Technologies Inc.

On the software and artificial intelligence side, Hypr in Alameda, Calif., received $10 million in seed funding. It was founded by some of the same people who developed robotic taxicabs at Zoox, which Amazon.com Inc. acquired in June.

Meanwhile, automotive perception developer Provizio in Limerick, Ireland, raised $6.2 million in seed funding, and simulation provider Morai Inc. in Seoul closed $1.8 million in seed funding.

Supply chain robots receive funding in November 2020

Partly because of accelerated e-commerce demand, robotics for warehouses, distribution centers, and logistics operations had another strong year, raising about $319 million last month alone. U.K.-based online grocer Ocado Group led the way with its $262 million acquisition of Kindred Systems and $25 million purchase of Haddington Dynamics.

Austin, Texas-based mobile robot startup Siera.Ai raised $4.6 million in Series A funding. Cambridge, Mass.-based parcel-handling robot maker Pickle Robot Co. raised $2 million in equity, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Components and software put together deals

Robots, drones, and vehicles are only as good as their ingredient technologies, which investors recognized with more than $231 million in November 2020. Paris-based GrAI Matter Labs, which makes processors for AI inferencing at the edge, raised $14 million.

Shanghai-based Emotibot Technology Ltd. raised Series C funding of $30 million for its human-machine interaction software, and Shenzhen, China-based Yishi Zhi Hao Technology Co. raised Series B funding of $15.12 million for its visual intelligence software.

Opteran Technologies, an AI processor firm in Sheffield, U.K., got $2.81 million in funding. Tel Aviv, Israel-based Orca AI, which makes navigation software for maritime systems, raised $2.6 million in seed funding.

LaunchPoint Technologies, a drone propulsion provider in Goleta, Calif., raised $1.81 million in seed funding, and Pittsburgh-based lidar business Psionic raised $500,000.

Drone makers spot sources of capital

Aerial drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), had another good month in November 2020. Agricultural drone provider Guangzhou Jifei Technology Co., also known as XAG, raised $183 million from Baidu Capital and SoftBank Vision Fund II.

Shield AI, a surveillance drone provider in San Diego, raised $52.9 million in Series C funding. Verity Studios, an entertainment drone provider in Zurich, raised $8.28 million in Series A funding.

Percepto, a Modi’in, Israel-based provider of industrial inspection systems that recently partnered with Boston Dynamics, raised $45 million in Series B funding.

Tel Aviv-based High Lander obtained seed funding of $3 million for its drone fleet management software. Watsonville, Calif.-based drone inspection provider Parallel Flight received $983,000 in seed funding from StartEngine.

Industrial automation makes more money in November 2020

While most robots are still in factory environments, they have not been the stars of fundraising because the companies supplying them are more mature. Automotive manufacturing in particular was set back by early shutdowns in response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, industrial automation suppliers raised a total of more than $53 million in November 2020.

Beijing-based collaborative robot provider Mega Robot received $30 million in Series B funding. San Francisco-based Rapid Robotics Inc., whose Rapid Machine Operator is intended to help companies keep production in the U.S., raised $5.5 million in seed funding.

Industrial exoskeletons also got a boost in last month. Shanghai-based Mech-Mind Robotics Technologies Ltd. raised $30 million in Series B+ funding, and San Diego-based Levitate Technologies Inc. picked up $3.5 million in Series A funding. Shanghai-based exoskeleton firm ULS Robotics obtained an unspecified amount in seed funding.

Healthcare, hospitality, and service robot firms give thanks

Rounding out the penultimate month of a challenging year is a collection of companies serving different sectors. Robotics and Internet of Things (IoT) developer MegaRobo raised $30 million in Series B funding. The Beijing-based startup is developing systems for light manufacturing, retail, and life sciences.

San Francisco-based Canvas, which is making a drywall robot for the construction industry, raised $19 million last month. London-based Giraffe360, which is developing a robotic camera for the real estate industry, raised $4.5 million.

Cambridge, Mass.-based Home Tech Innovation Inc., which is developing the Suvie kitchen robot, raised $8.1 million in equity funding, according to an SEC filing. Biomotum, an assistive device maker in Flagstaff, Ariz., raised $580,000 in November 2020.

Educational robotics startups Movia Robotics Inc. in Bristol, Conn., and SmartGurlz in Copenhagen raised $500,000 and $130,000, respectively. Austin, Texas-based Maidbot, which is developing “Rosie” the commercial housekeeping robot, raised an unspecified amount of Series B funding.

Related content: The Robot Report Podcast: Robotics investment trends; are Amazon drone deliveries coming?

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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.