Knightscope, the US-based security robot producer that counts corporates NTT Docomo, Konica Minolta and Flextronics as investors, closed $10m of a planned $20m regulation A+ public offering yesterday.
The offering, described by the company as a “mini-IPO”, involves it issuing shares in an offering where investors can buy stock by investing a minimum of $999. It raised the $10m from an investor base of more than 3,000 people, and has until October 10 to close the offering.
Knightscope produces mobile security robots that can autonomously monitor an area and detect any anomalies that could be signs of danger. It has so far supplied 38 of its machines to a total of 30 customers and aims to have more than 100 under contract by the end of this year.
The company is also working on weapon detection technology that will be integrated into its products. It has built a concept prototype of the technology and is working on the alpha prototype.
The offering follows approximately $13m in equity funding and $500,000 in debt financing, according to press releases and regulatory filings.
NTT Docomo Ventures, a corporate venturing vehicle for mobile network NTT Docomo, joined SeedInvest and angel investor Kishore Ganji to provide $1.5m of seed capital for Knightscope in 2013.
Printing technology producer Konica Minolta and manufacturing services provider Flex joined NTT Docomo Ventures for a $5.2m round the following year, before Konica Minolta added $1m in June 2017, with another $2m dependent on certain milestones.
– Photo courtesy of Knightscope, Inc.