According to our Tracxn Report, the Industrial Robotics space witnessed an 80% increase in funding in 2015, with the sector seeing a total raise of $460M, vis-a-vis the $255M raised in 2014. 2016 witnessed $13M being invested to date, with the most notable deal being 5D Robotics $5.5M Seed Round.
Our Industrial Robotics report covers analysis on robots that interact with professionals in their natural course of work, are active in a commercial setup, and can perform tasks autonomously. According to the report, the companies have raised more than $1.3B in cumulative funding since 2010.
The high funding volume in 2015 is despite the decrease in funding towards the military robotics space, due to cut in defense spending in the US. On the other hand, healthcare robotics have contributed significantly, with Auris Surgical Robotics raising $150M in a single round, and standing out as the highest funding volume till date.
The sector has also seen an upward trend in the number of deals, peaking in 2015 with a total of 43 deals. Besides Auris Surgical Robotics, Procept Biorobotics was also among the high volume deals raising $42M from Novo A/S.
The Highest Number of Companies were founded in 2014
In terms of the emergence of new companies, the industrial robotics space has been pretty active with a healthy number of companies being founded every year, with 2014 seeing the highest figure.
The Manufacturing sub-sector has shown consistent activity, in this regard, with more than 50 companies being founded in the last 10 years. Healthcare is another sector which has shown fairly consistent activity within which Surgical robots and devices for rehabilitation are fast growing. Moreover, since 2007, there has been interest building for the agricultural sector, with the segment seeing the emergence of at least 1 company every year.
Healthcare is the most funded Business Model
By far, the healthcare segment has been the most attractive space for investors, with the sector seeing ~$1B funding, with 2015 witnessing the most funding. Within the segment, Surgical robots have been drawing the lion’s share of funding amounts over the years, with Intuitive Surgical’s Da Vinci Robot leading the pack.
The Manufacturing segment, while consisting of a large number of companies, is a distant second when it comes to funding, owing to a significant dip in investments during 2011. The industry is now evolving, considering that while automation and robotics have been the mainstay in manufacturing, innovations are happening in terms of how robots interact with people and other objects. In this regard, one of the most upcoming fields is Cobots, which are essentially robots that can work alongside humans and don’t need to be caged, made possible by advanced sensing capabilities. A lot of funding is also being channelled into newer areas such as material handling and inspection.
National Science Foundation, ABB and Blume Ventures are the Most Active Investors
National Science Foundation was the most active investor in industrial robotics, having invested in Andros Robotics, Energid Technologies and Persimmon Technologies. With 2 companies in their portfolio apiece, ABB and Blume Ventures follow, having invested in Grabit and Persimmon Technologies, and Grey Orange Robotics and Systemantics respectively.
Note: The Tracxn Report on Industrial Robotics covers analysis on robots that can interact with professionals only and work in a commercial setup, and perform tasks autonomously. The report does not cover robots that interact with humans in their place of residence or offices. Eg. – Service robots or bionic limbs etc.
Preview the Report here: