Robotics investments reach $521M in January

Robotics investments for January 2023 totaled $521 million as a result of 41 investments. Investments in firms working on autonomous vehicles and autonomous driving technologies were particularly in January 2023. Example companies include Oxbotica, Outrider, FERNRIDE and Ottopia.

Companies providing unmanned aerial drones and drone-enabling technologies, as well as drone services for search and rescue, public safety, industrial inspection, mapping and surveying, also attracted funding for Terra Drone, SwissDrones, SentinelSky and Nautical Wings, for example.

Robotics investments for December 2022 totaled $1.14B as a result of 55 investments. That represented a 7.7% increase over December 2021’s funding total of $1.06B (representing 65 investments).

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 a number of 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.