Japan's Seven Dreamers receives $60m Series B round

The company raised a JPY1.5 billion ($13.7 million) Series A round last year with backing from Daiwa House, the University of Tokyo Edge Capital and several other companies. Last year Daiwa House and Panasonic entered a joint development initiative with Seven Dreamers for the commercialization of a cloths-folding robot known as Laundroid.

According to a statement, Laundroid is the world's first fully automatic device of its kind, combining artificial intelligence, robotics and image analysis technologies. The refrigerator-sized unit is operable by smart phone and is slated for release in 2017.

Seven Dreamers has also developed Nastent, a disposal nasal insertion snoring and sleep apnea treatment device, as well as a made-to-order golf club shaft production business that uses aerospace design and manufacturing methods.

Household-use robotics has been an increasingly popular venture investment target across Japan, China and the US. Recent activity in this space has included Japan's Dentsu Ventures investing $3 million in US social robot start-up Jibo and a JPY29 billion commitment by Alibaba Group and Foxconn Technology in SoftBank Robotics, the maker of humanoid servant Pepper.

Last month, IDG Capital Partners and Walden International led a $65 million round for Rokid, a US and China based company developing a device that manages housekeeping tasks such as controlling light, temperature and music.

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• Topics
• North Asia
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• Early-stage
• Japan
• SBI Holdings
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