Neo is a mentorship community and VC fund that brings together a diverse group of tech veterans to accelerate tomorrow's leaders.

Khosla Ventures invests in companies that are bold, early, and impactful. The firm was started in 2004 by Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, to provide venture assistance to entrepreneurs. Khosla Ventures invests in a range of areas including AI, climate, sustainability, enterprise, consumer, fintech, digital health, medtech and diagnostics, therapeutics, and frontier technology.

Khosla Ventures

Calibrate Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in start-ups. The firm is a partner-only firm with no junior investment professionals. It leverages a community of investors, founders, and partners who help deliver powerful results. Jason Schoettler and Kevin Dunlap co-founded it in 2016 in Pasadena, California.

Calibrate Ventures

1984 Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that seeks to invest in fintech, healthcare, SaaS, e-commerce, and consumer sectors.

1984 Ventures

Sequoia is a venture capital focused on energy, financial, enterprise, healthcare, internet, and mobile startups. The firm helps a small number of daring founders build legendary companies. It spurs them to push the boundaries of what’s possible. The firm seeks to invest in all sectors with a focus on energy, financials and financial services, healthcare and healthcare services, Internet, mobile, outsourcing, and technology.

Sequoia Capital

Mayo Clinic, a not-for-profit medical group practice, provides medical care, research, and education services. It offers medical care services in various specialties, including diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology, gynecology, cancer, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology, rheumatology, nephrology, urology, and cardiology and heart surgery.

Mayo Clinic

Fuel Capital is an early-stage venture fund dedicated to being more than a source of capital - we want to be true confidantes to every founder in the Fuel family. We stand in our founder’s corner, not their kitchen. We leverage our resources, connections, experience, and expertise to carve a shortcut for them - so their energy is spent on building the future, instead of knocking on doors.  Fuel was founded in 2013 by Chris Howard. Leah Solivan, founder of TaskRabbit, joined as a General Partner in 2017.  We invests in consumer, business software and cloud/ infrastructure companies. With a strong track record - including investments in 8 unicorns (Convoy, Flexport, Figma, Pacaso, Lattice, Highspot, thredUP, and Weave), several recently acquired companies (CTRL-Labs - acquired by Facebook, CoreOS - acquired by RedHat, Nervana - acquired by Intel, Hightower - acquired by View the Space), as well as numerous up-and-coming companies - Fuel has rightfully earned the reputation of being one of Silicon Valley’s leading seed funds.

Fuel Capital

MVP Ventures was founded in 2020 with the realization that a rethought model for venture investing could unlock significantly greater returns. With the help of its proprietary data-driven sourcing engine and value-add focus, the firm invests as the 2nd-largest check into early-stage deep tech teams building differentiated and defensible technology across software and hardware — with no ownership restrictions.

MVP Ventures

General Catalyst is a venture capital firm that provides early-stage and growth equity investments. The company provides ongoing momentum that accelerates ideas, careers, and companies toward standout success.

General Catalyst

Founded in 2000, Industry Ventures is an investment firm that focuses on making venture capital investments. The firm makes investments through secondary opportunities, primary fund investments and direct co-investments in venture-backed companies. The firm has $3.5B in AUM and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Industry Ventures

Lux Capital manages over $5 billion in assets focused on founding, seed, early-stage, and growth investments at the intersection of technology and the sciences. Lux takes an active role in helping entrepreneurs build successful businesses in high-growth sectors. Its investment team has built over 20 companies from scratch. Lux's investment strategy ensures portfolio companies are better connected, have a deeper insight, and command industry leadership faster than their competitors.

Lux Capital

Bison Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage frontier technology firms that aim to make people and the environment healthier. Bison collaborates with entrepreneurs who use cutting-edge research and technology.

Bison Ventures

Collaborative Robotics

Collaborative Robotics is a team of innovators and builders redefining the future of human-robot interaction. A future in which robots are trustworthy extensions of the environment. They operate, adapt, and react in response.

Founded in 2022, Collaborative Robotics is a developer of collaborative robots (cobots). The company is developing a collaborative robotic arm with six degrees-of-freedom (DOF), which will serve the market between high-end robots (like Tesla’s Optimus) and basic autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). The company claims that its collaborative 6DOF robotic arm, which will work alongside humans, will be a novel offering in the market. The cobot will be developed to perform various tasks, targeting the manufacturing, logistics, agriculture, healthcare, and hospitality industries. Collaborative Robotics was founded by former Amazon Robotics (developer of robotic systems for automated fulfillment at Amazon fulfillment centers and warehouses) Vice President Brad Porter.

Using data and automation to achieve 24/7 production.

Smart Factory

Collaborative Robotics hires a former Amazon AI leader, opens Seattle office after $100M round

Founded in 2022, Collaborative Robotics is a developer of collaborative robots (cobots). The company is developing a collaborative robotic arm with six degrees-of-freedom (DOF), which will serve the market between high-end robots (like Tesla’s Optimus) and basic autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). The company claims that its collaborative 6DOF robotic arm, which will work alongside humans, will be a novel offering in the market. The cobot will be developed to perform various tasks, targeting the manufacturing, logistics, agriculture, healthcare, and hospitality industries. Collaborative Robotics was founded by former Amazon Robotics (developer of robotic systems for automated fulfillment at Amazon fulfillment centers and warehouses) Vice President Brad Porter.Funding and financialsIn April 2024, the company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/28457">raised USD 100 million </a>in a Series B funding round led by General Catalyst to increase its employee base and advance its commercial deployments.

<div>
 
 Righthand Robotics provides autonomous robotic picking solutions called RightPick. It utilizes a smart gripper, machine learning, and computer vision to imitate human hand-eye coordination. It develops software and hardware for predictable order fulfillment at scale with flexibility. The company&rsquo;s solutions can be utilized in industries such as apparel, grocery, pharmaceuticals, and electronics. It is based in Massachusetts and has an office in Tokyo, Japan. The company is focused on expanding its European operations, having opened an office in Frankfurt, Germany, in March 2020.
 
 
 In 2019, the company launched the second generation of its piece-picking robotic solution, &ldquo;RightPick2,&rdquo; which includes enhancements to hardware and software. The upgrades included a fifth-generation industrial gripper with the capacity to lift up to 4.4 lbs, new depth-sensing cameras from Intel, and an improved arm from Universal Robots. In 2021, the company launched &ldquo;RightPick 3,&rdquo; with improved picking speeds, capacity to handle a broader item range, and with capabilities for dense packing and damage-free item handling. 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25875">
 In January 2024,
 </a>
 it launched &ldquo;RightPick 4&rdquo; with enhanced AI, sensor suite, and new hardware that allow the system to extend its item-picking range, handle items more efficiently, and enhance system autonomy.
 
 
 In February 2022, the company raised USD 66 million in a Series C round bringing its total funding to USD 100.3 million. The funds were expected to be used to accelerate product and business development, scale global presence by expanding the partner network, expand offices, and acquiring new talent to support overall growth plans. Subsequently, in March 2022, the company announced the launch of its 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9203?industryIds=6">
 partner integrator program,
 </a>
 to complement its robotic piece-picking solutions with warehouse technologies and solution providers to cater to the broad ecommerce order fulfillment market. In May 2022, AutoStore integrator in South Korea Asetec also joined the program.
 
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RightHand Robotics

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 SparkCognition is an AI analytics startup offering four deep learning product solutions: Darwin (automated model-building software), DeepArmor (AI-powered cybersecurity), DeepNLP (NLP solution), and SparkPredict (analytics solution utilizing sensor data). These products deliver actionable insights, predict machine issues via historical maintenance data, and provide security from cyber threats. These products can be deployed across multiple industries, such as manufacturing, defense, utilities, oil and gas, and aviation. 
 
 
 SparkCognition&rsquo;s clientele comprises large companies such as Boeing, Hitachi, and British Petroleum. It has also built partnerships with Google for cloud platform services, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise to offer AI predictive maintenance on HPE Edgeline Converged Edge Systems, and OSIsoft to integrate SparkCognition&rsquo;s machine learning technology with OSIsoft&rsquo;s PI system to improve data and process data analytics.
 
 
 The company&rsquo;s most recent funding round was Series D funding worth USD 123 million in January 2022 from March Capital, Doha Venture Capital, B. Riley Venture Capital, AEI Horizon X, Temasek, and several others. The funds were intended to be used to invest in R&amp;D, accelerate sales and marketing, facilitate organic and inorganic growth, and also for the working capital requirements of the company. In March 2022, the company acquired Indian visual AI startup 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9370?industryIds=6">
 Integration Wizards
 </a>
 to expand its intellectual property (IP) portfolio to improve vision capabilities. The company has reported a 2x increase in revenue YoY in 2021.
 
</div>

SparkCognition

Kinta AI provides an automated production planning platform for manufacturing that uses advanced AI algorithms and simulation techniques. Using existing operational data, a SaaS solution is deployed that can be integrated with existing management execution systems (MES), enterprise resource planning (ERP), and Industry 4.0 tools in the factory. The software looks to have cross-functional communication across the factory to eliminate any bottlenecks that delay resolving breakdowns. Kinta AI has partnered with Flex (an electronics manufacturer) and BASF (a chemical company).Kinta AI’s most recent financing was a Series A funding round worth USD 5.5 million in April 2021 led by Lachy Groom’s LGF and Shine Capital. The funds will be utilized to scale operations in existing general industrial client factories and implement the Kinta AI platform in new client factories.

Kinta AI

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 Sight Machine provides a digital manufacturing platform enabled by AI. It creates a digital twin of both assets and processes to help manufacturers improve processes, quality, and productivity. It can also gather data from machines of various manufacturers supplying actionable insights for predictive maintenance, quality improvement, capacity utilization, among other benefits. In October 2022, the company released 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13696?industryIds=6">
 Sight Machine Blueprint
 </a>
 to offer manufacturers with advanced data analytics solutions.
 
 
 Sight Machine has established partnerships with large global companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) for their cloud platforms and Fujitsu (system integrator) to help with wide deployments. Sight Machine, which caters to at least 15 verticals, such as food and beverage, electronics, and automotive, is on the move to expand into more verticals. It has global clients of Fortune 500-caliber, including Nissan, Heineken, Westrock Co., and Asian Paints. Sight Machine&rsquo;s most recent funding round was Series C funding worth USD 29.4 million in April 2019, led by LS Group. The funds were to be used to expedite the company&rsquo;s growth.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In December 2023, 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25200">
 Sight Machine received a low double-digit million euro investmen
 </a>
 t from TeamViewer to improve industrial digitalization and enhance manufacturing efficiency.
 
 
 
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Sight Machine

Overview uses smart cameras and AI to monitor manufacturing equipment and robots and identify defects in real time before significant damage or downtime is incurred. The technology has a repository of machine data so that there is a traceable visual record of all units. With AI, the cause of production issues and quality concerns can be identified either on-site or remotely. The company claims over time, the deep learning computer vision algorithms allow for any sudden substantial increases in production and improved yields. Funding and financialsIn February 2022, the company raised USD 10 million in series A funding to be used to expand operations and business reach.

Overview

Companies that provide robotic fleet management software, robotic automation software, and inspection software.

Companies that provide an industrial IoT platform across factories as the primary offering.

Companies that provide cobots, sorting/ picking robotics, modular production robotics, and microfactories.

Companies that focus on data analytics for operations streamlining and process optimization, and may offer predictive maintenance.

Companies that provide autonomous mobile robots (AMR) or self-driving vehicles (SDV) used in manufacturing/ factory operations.

Companies that monitor the manufacturing equipment and assembly lines.

Companies that provide predictive maintenance as a primary offering. 

Creates digital twins of assets and processes to help manufacturers improve processes, quality, and productivity

Connected devices, sensors, IoT, and analytics are used to optimize factory operations

Uses advanced robotics, AMRs, and related software to improve the efficiency of factory operations

Uses connected devices and sensors to gather data—IIoT, predictive analysis, and equipment inspection

Uses AI/ML to analyze data for predictive maintenance and AI-based vision systems for line inspections

5G standard allows for faster reaction times and supports high connection densities

Uses edge computing for data processing at the edge

Some companies in the predictive maintenance space uses generative AI to generate possible alternative scenarios

<div>
 
 Collaborative Robotics, a cobots manufacturer, secured USD 100 million in a Series B funding round. General Catalyst led the round, with Bison Ventures, Industry Ventures, Lux Capital, Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, and Mayo Clinic also participating. The company's total funding now exceeds USD 140 million.
 
Plans for the raised funds include increasing the company's employee base and enhancing its commercial deployments.
 
</div>

Collaborative Robotics

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