Jibo, a US-based personal robot maker backed by corporates including consumer electronics producer Samsung, has raised $13.1m in an equity round expected to reach $28m, according to a securities filing yesterday.
Founded in 2012, Jibo has developed a social robot that speaks English, learns people’s faces and recognises their presence. The robot, which retails for $599, will be able to play with children, act as a personal assistant and take group photos.
The company raised $52.5m in series A funding over the course of 2015 from investors including Samsung’s corporate venturing arm, Samsung Ventures, electronic display producer Ningbo GQY, laptop producer Acer and telecom companies KDDI and LG Uplus.
Series A investors also included Dentsu Ventures, the strategic investment vehicle for marketing company Dentsu, video surveillance technology provider NetPosa, RRE Ventures, CRV, Flybridge Capital Partners, Fairhaven Capital Partners, Two Sigma, Formation 8 and Osage Venture Partners.
Jibo had received an undisclosed amount of seed capital from CRV, Fairhaven and Osage the previous year and has secured a combined $4m in crowdfunding campaigns, $3.7m of which came from a campaign on Indiegogo that closed in June 2015.
The company has however had to delay delivery of the robot, which was originally expected ship in October this year.
Jibo told its customers in September that it would start shipments this month, though the version to be sent out is a “pre-launch” model with software that might contain errors, BostInno reported yesterday. A shipment date for the finished version has not yet been disclosed.
– Photo courtesy of Jibo, Inc.