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Quite a few attendees met MassRobotics startups and companions at RoboSource earlier this month. Credit score: Eugene Demaitre
BOSTON — One measure of success for a robotics cluster is how a lot funding its member corporations receive. MassRobotics this month introduced that resident startups have raised greater than $1 billion since its founding in 2017.
“This outstanding achievement underscores the important position MassRobotics performs in accelerating robotics innovation, commercialization, and adoption of superior applied sciences,” said the group.
“Greater than 290 traders have backed about 82 resident startups,” mentioned Tom Ryden, govt director of MassRobotics. He spoke with The Robotic Report throughout the latest RoboSource showcase and networking occasion on the Enterprise Café in Cambridge, Mass.
“We’re pleased with all the businesses, whether or not they’ve raised $2 million or $100 million,” Ryden mentioned. “Lots of them have moved on from our co-working house and proceed to develop. It’s not about being at MassRobotics; these corporations add worth to your complete ecosystem.”
MassRobotics startups discover success throughout sectors
The startups in Massachusetts’ robotics ecosystem help a variety of industries, notably in manufacturing, protection, and logistics. MassRobotics gives the businesses with house and mentoring, in addition to alternatives to community with academia, business companions, and traders.
Examples embrace Marlborough, Mass.-based American Robotics, which constructed business drones and was acquired by Ondas Holdings for $70.6 million in 2021. Watertown, Mass.-based Tutor Intelligence has raised $4.2 million pre-seed to engineer synthetic intelligence and collaborative robots for packaging.
SparkCharge, which has developed techniques for electrical and autonomous car charging, raised $23 million in a Might 2022 Collection A spherical, for a complete of $67 million in funding to this point. Boston-based Activ Surgical Inc. has raised a complete of greater than $100 million, based on MassRobotics.
MassRobotics startups aren’t restricted to New England. Shanghai-based XYZ Robotics has raised $103 million, together with a $20 million Collection A+ spherical, for vision-guided selecting techniques.
An business breakdown of the $1 billion invested in MassRobotics startups. Supply: MassRobotics
Realtime Robotics will get assist ramping up
In Might 2024, Realtime Robotics acquired Collection B funding led by Mitsubishi Electrical Corp., bringing its whole to $71.5 million. Boston-based Realtime is creating runtime applied sciences to optimize collision-free movement planning for a number of robotic arms in a single workcell.
MassRobotics has helped the corporate from the start, famous Peter Howard, co-founder, president, and CEO of Realtime Robotics. He had researched a wide range of areas earlier than selecting Boston.
“It was obvious to us in 2017 that Silicon Valley was busy with autonomous autos, and competitors for brand new graduates or reasonably skilled individuals was vicious,” he instructed The Robotic Report. “Pittsburgh didn’t have the infrastructure or scope of roboticists that Boston had. Right here, there was already a thriving group, due to Amazon Robotics, iRobot, and good universities graduating individuals who have been extra conservative about job hopping.”
“MERL [Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory] was already a company sponsor after we determined to arrange at MassRobotics in Might 2017,” Howard recalled. “It helped put up $50,000 in preliminary funding, and the assets right here meant we didn’t must spend a penny on {hardware} infrastructure so we might give attention to what we have been attempting to create.”
The next yr, Realtime Robotics had simply arrange an indication workcell with two robots selecting and putting into two bins when Mitsubishi came around.
“Joyce [Sidopoulos, co-founder and chief of operations at MassRobotics] introduced over the guests, who occurred to be the top of Mitsubishi’s manufacturing facility automation crew and the CTO of its robotics enterprise unit,” Howard mentioned. “They thought it was canned, with pre-known areas. We mentioned, ‘You go forward and transfer the robotic,’ after which you could possibly see his jaw drop. That was the start of our relationship.”
Ori Dwelling will get house to collaborate and develop
Hasier Larrea, founder and CEO of Ori Inc., had the same expertise as his firm developed and commercialized its robotic furnishings for space-constrained residences.
“MassRobotics was nice within the early levels, serving to us join with angel traders and a few strategics,” he mentioned. “We’re most likely the oldest resident. It’s additionally useful to be surrounded by corporations at related levels.”
“Once we launched out of MIT in 2015, the primary few years was about perfecting the know-how, ensuring it will work as we envisioned, reliably and safely, and that it may very well be manufactured at scale,” mentioned Larrea. “We’ve now delivered about 1,500 flats to this point, from New York Metropolis to Fort Price [Texas] and Los Angeles.”
Ori nonetheless has about 15 staffers at MassRobotics, the place it builds and exams all its merchandise and manages its provide chain. The corporate has raised greater than $50 million and opened a business-development workplace in Brooklyn, N.Y.
“I at all times inform younger entrepreneurs that they need to fall in love with the issues that they’re pushed to resolve, reasonably than begin an organization for the unsuitable causes,” Larrea mentioned. “What I like about MassRobotics is that its group of individuals in shut proximity maximizes the metaphorical collisions to spark innovation.”
Greater than 85 corporations are present residents at MassRobotics’ headquarters, and startups can can apply.
MassRobotics works with robotics and AI startups world wide. Supply: MassRobotics
See MassRobotics at occasions together with RoboBusiness
MassRobotics hosts and participates in occasions for schooling and coaching, investing, and connecting engineers with business. Its actions embrace the Healthcare Robotics Startup Catalyst and the MassRobotics Accelerator.
On Sept. 27, the group is internet hosting a Robotics and AI Technical Profession Truthful. The following day, it’s going to maintain its seventh annual RoboBoston “robotic block social gathering” for most people in Boston’s Seaport District.
At RoboBusiness 2024, which will likely be on Oct. 16 and 17 in Santa Clara, Calif., Sidopoulos will lead the Girls in Robotics Lunch and Half 1 of the Robotics Startup Bootcamp. Marita McGinn, director of the MassRobotics Accelerator program, will lead Half 2 of the Robotics Startup Bootcamp.
Members of MassRobotics akin to Harmonic Drive and Opteran will likely be among the many exhibitors. Jack Pearson, business director at Opteran, an RBR50 honoree, will even be among the many audio system at RoboBusiness.
MassRobotics is a strategic companion of WTWH Media, which produces The Robotic Report, Automated Warehouse, RoboBusiness, and the Robotics Summit & Expo.
