Electronics manufacturer Panasonic has led a $60m round for Seven Dreamers, the Japan-based developer of a laundry folding robot called Laundroid, Tech in Asia reported today.
The round also featured financial services firm SBI Holdings, and securities brokerage and asset manager Daiwa. It follows a $12.7m series A round in 2015 that included Daiwa and University of Tokyo Edge Capital, the venture capital firm affiliated with University of Tokyo.
Laundroid is a device that utilises robotics, artificial intelligence and image recognition technology to fold clothes into a neat shape before piling them up inside its refrigerator-like body.
The mechanism was unveiled in 2015, the same year as Seven Dreamers and Panasonic formed a joint development alliance that involved Panasonic supplying its home electronics and washing and drying technology to the company.
Laundroid is set to be commercially launched in Japan next year, with foreign markets to follow in 2018. It is expected to be used by shops, hotels and other businesses in need of mass folding.
– Photo courtesy of Seven Dreamers