US-based workplace robotics technology provider Sarcos Robotics received $30m yesterday in a series B round that included corporate investors Caterpillar, General Electric, Microsoft and Schlumberger.
The round was co-led by investment office DIG Investment and Alex. Brown & Sons, an asset management arm of financial holding company Raymond James, and also featured venture capital fund Cottonwood Technology Fund and Ben Wolff, chairman and CEO of Sarcos.
Industrial equipment maker Caterpillar and power and industrial manufacturer GE invested through Caterpillar Ventures and GE Ventures respectively, but software provider Microsoft and oilfield services supplier Schlumberger did not mention a corporate venturing unit.
Sarcos produces dexterous robots capable of traversing difficult spaces, which can be used to lift heavy items, or in surveillance and inspection.
The company has also created a robotic exoskeleton that helps protect and increase the strength of workers doing difficult and potentially arduous jobs, and plans to commercially launch the product in 2019.
Wolff said: “Sarcos is growing rapidly – we have doubled our workforce in the last year as we realise our vision of delivering robotic systems that simultaneously reduce the risk of workplace injuries, while also increasing productivity and efficiency.
“This new funding will allow us to continue to grow our team, scale our production and deliver our unrivalled products to customers around the globe to address the unmet global demand for robotic systems that create the safest, most productive workforce possible.”
All four corporates had already contributed to the company’s series A round, which closed at $15.6m in January 2017, alongside Cottonwood Technology Fund, Wolff and fellow Sarcos Sarcos co-founders Fraser Smith and Marc Olivier, and two undisclosed investment firms.
– Image courtesy of Sarcos Corp.