SoftBank is backing Japanese robotics startup Telexistence, making good on the tech giant’s current pledge to return on the funding offensive in gentle of the present AI hype.
Tokyo-based Telexistence mentioned Thursday that it has raised $170 million (23 billion yen) in a Collection B spherical of funding from SoftBank, Airbus Ventures, Monoful Companions, KDDI Open Innovation Fund, a fund arrange by Foxconn and CTBC Monetary Holdings, and Globis Capital Companions. With the most recent spherical, Telexistence has raised a complete of roughly $193.5 million (27.5 billion yen) since its inception.
Based in 2017, Telexistence develops AI-powered robotic arms for the retail and logistics business. Final 12 months, the corporate said it would deploy its robots in 300 FamilyMart comfort shops throughout Japan.
The corporate will use its recent capital to bolster its workforce globally, CEO Jin Tomioka mentioned in an announcement. However apart from the funding, Telexistence can be asserting a strategic partnership with SoftBank Robotics Group, a unit of SoftBank Group, to ramp up its commercialization in North America. Telexistence is at the moment in talks with main comfort retailer chains in North America to conduct proof of idea within the close to future, based on the corporate. Furthermore, the startup mentioned it can work with Foxconn to provide its next-generation robotic, known as “Ghost.”
SoftBank Robotics Group’s Kenichi Kent Yoshida, and Globis Capital Companions’ Ryohei Nomoto will be part of Telexistence’s board of administrators because of their funding.
SoftBank has been greater than slightly bullish about investments within the robotics realm, having backed California-based Bear Robotics again in 2020. By way of the SoftBank Imaginative and prescient Fund 2, it has additionally made investments in Shanghai-based Keenon Robotics, which focuses on growing service robots, and Opentrons, a medical testing robotic developer.
This text has been up to date with data from Telexistence.