The Valley’s affinity for robotics shows no signs of cooling. Technical enhancements through innovations like AI/ML, compute power and big data utilization continue to drive new performance milestones, efficiencies and use cases.
Despite the old saying, “hardware is hard,” investment in the robotics space continues to expand. Money is pouring in across robotics’ billion-dollar sub verticals, including industrial and labor automation, drone delivery, machine vision and a wide range of others.
According to data from Pitchbook and Crunchbase, 2018 saw new highs for the number of venture deals and total invested capital in the space, with roughly $5 billion in investment coming from nearly 400 deals. With robotics well on its way to again set new investment peaks in 2019, we asked 13 leading VCs who work at firms spanning early to growth stages to share what’s exciting them most and where they see opportunity in the sector:
- Shahin Farshchi, Lux Capital
- Kelly Chen, DCVC
- Rob Coneybeer, Shasta Ventures
- Aaron Jacobson, NEA
- Eric Migicovsky, Y Combinator
- Helen Liang, FoundersX Ventures
- Andrew Byrnes, Micron Ventures
- Ludovic Copéré Sony Innovation Fund
- Costantino Mariella, Sony Innovation Fund
- Cyril Ebersweiler, SOSV & HAX
- Peter Barrett, Playground Global
- Bruce Leak, Playground Global
- Jim Adler, Toyota AI Ventures
Participants discuss the compelling business models for robotics startups (such as “Robots as a Service”), current valuations, growth tactics and key robotics KPIs, while also diving into key trends in industrial automation, human replacement, transportation, climate change, and the evolving regulatory environment…
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