CAMBRIDGE, MA--(Marketwired - Oct 18, 2017) - Veo Robotics, the company creating intelligent, human-aware systems for industrial robotics, today announced $12M in Series A funding led by Lux Capital and GV (formerly Google Ventures). Previous investor Next47, a global venture firm created by Siemens, also participated. In addition, Bilal Zuberi of Lux Capital and Andy Wheeler of GV will join the company's board of directors.
Veo Robotics is building the brains for robotic systems, bringing perception and intelligence to industrial automation so that humans and machines can work closely together. The company's first product uses a new class of intelligent algorithms running on parallel computing hardware and distributed 3D sensors to enable safe, close human collaboration with large, powerful industrial robots. The new funding will allow Veo to accelerate hiring in computer vision, engineering, product management and systems engineering roles, as well as support product development.
"This is a revolutionary time for global manufacturing," said Patrick Sobalvarro, Veo's CEO and co-founder. "For more than 100 years we've been using machine tools that are unaware of their users and unable to respond to them intelligently. Bilal Zuberi and Andy Wheeler saw from our first conversations an opportunity to make a step change in manufacturing to fluid, intelligent, highly flexible and productive environments where humans and machines work closely together, each doing what they do best."
Veo's technology provides industrial workers with the ability to collaboratively work with machines, bringing more flexibility, productivity and precision to the manufacturing process. The company is working with customers in key verticals including automotive and consumer packaged goods (CPG), as well as with major household appliance manufacturers and automated distribution centers.
"For decades we've been told robots were to blame for the dearth of manufacturing jobs in the U.S., but that's about to change," says Bilal Zuberi, partner at Lux Capital. "Patrick, Clara, Scott and the rest of the team have a counter-intuitive vision for the future: If you improve the robots, manufacturers will be able to hire more people for better jobs. Veo is giving industrial robots the gift of perception and intelligence so these helpful machines can still do the dangerous heavy lifting, yet safely work alongside humans."
"There is a significant market opportunity for intelligent software that enables safe interaction between humans and machines in industrial environments," said Andy Wheeler, General Partner at GV. "With the founding team's deep understanding of manufacturing environments and extensive technical expertise in sensor technology, robotics and artificial intelligence applications, Veo is well-positioned to have a meaningful impact on the industrial robotics industry."
The founding team behind Veo Robotics has a combined 50 years of experience in robotics, artificial intelligence, sensor perception and industrial automation. CEO Patrick Sobalvarro, Ph.D., formerly the President of Rethink Robotics, is a serial entrepreneur who founded and successfully sold IntelliVid to Tyco. Co-founder and Vice President of Engineering, Clara Vu, is the former co-founder of Harvest Automation and was an early employee and senior software engineer at iRobot. Co-founder Scott Denenberg, Ph.D., Senior Director of Hardware, was previously a senior director of electrical engineering at Jentek Sensors.
About Veo Robotics
Veo Robotics was founded in 2016 and creates intelligent, human-aware systems for industrial robotics. Veo is transforming manufacturing by bringing perception and intelligence to industrial automation. Veo's first product lets high-performance industrial robots work collaboratively with people to enable much more flexible, productive, and efficient manufacturing work cells. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. Please visit http://www.veobot.com to learn more.
About Lux Capital
Lux Capital is a venture firm based in New York City and Silicon Valley investing in counter-conventional, seed and early stage science and technology ventures. Lux manages $1.1 billion in assets across five funds. For more information please visit www.luxcapital.com or follow us on Twitter @Lux_Capital. http://www.luxcapital.com
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