Makeblock, the China-based developer of a programmable robot kit, is in talks with telecommunications firm SoftBank for a round sized at “at least” $60m, Bloomberg has reported.
The prospective series C round would value Makeblock at more than $400m, according to people familiar with the matter.
Makeblock produces kits made up of mechanical and electronic parts along with a programming platform.SoftBank is already one of Makeblock’s distributors, and the companies co-launched a modular,modular programmable programmable drone kit called Airblock earlier this month.
The new round would follow $36m of funding, $30m of which came in a March 2017 series B round co-led by Shenzhen Capital Group and Evolution Media China, an investment fund backed by talent agency Creative Artists Agency.
The series B round, which valued Makeblock at $200m, came after an undisclosed amount of seed funding from venture capital fund SOSV and $6m series in series A funding supplied by by VC firm Sequoia Capital in 2014.