China robotics player Flexiv gets $100m Series B
Flexiv, a China and US-based industrial robotics start-up specializing in machines that can adapt to unpredictable environments, has raised a $100 million Series B round featuring Gaorong Capital.
Existing investor GSR Ventures also participated, as did Meta Capital, New Hope Group, Plug & Play, Longwood Fund, Yunfeng Capital, and online-to-offline local services giant Meituan-Dianping. The investment, which follows a $22 million Series A in 2019, is being touted as the largest-ever single fundraising round in the field of general-purpose robotics.
Flexiv was founded in 2016 by a team at Stanford University and launched its first product, an adaptive robot called Rizon, in 2019. It has manufactured more than 100 adaptive robots to date and developed industry-specific applications for internet, automotive, and consumer electronics clients across Asia, North America, and Europe.
The company aims to differentiate itself through human-inspired robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that can react to changing and uncertain situations and automate complex tasks with systems that emulate hand-eye coordination. It operates via bases in Silicon Valley, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, and Foshan.
“Flexiv developed adaptive robots with sophisticated force control systems and cutting-edge AI technology that mimic human behavior, bringing the versatility and intelligence of robots to a whole new level,” Bin Yue, a founding partner of Gaorong, said in a statement.
“Notably, Flexiv has now achieved mass production and successfully validated its customer value and core business model. We believe that Flexiv’s products will bring unique value to a much broader range of application scenarios, and effectively accelerate the transformation and automation in different industries.”
The fresh capital will be used for mass production and marketing, new market development, and R&D. There will be a continued focus on automation in the manufacturing industry while exploring new applications in areas including services, agriculture, logistics, and healthcare.
“With business opportunities from new investors that cover almost every industry, we will be able to develop and refine our products and robot AI in a diversity of real application scenarios, which greatly benefits our development of the most advanced general intelligence and robotics technology,” said Shiquan Wang, co-founder and CEO of Flexiv.
It extends a string of Chinese industrial robotics investments for Gaorong, including Geek+, a warehouse automation player that closed a $200 million Series C in June, and XYZ Robotics, which raised a $20 million Series A in August. XYZ, which also specializes in hand-eye coordination and interpreting random visual inputs, is strongly focused on the logistics industry.
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