China's Jaka Robotics raises $150m Series D
Prosperity7 Ventures, a USD 1bn venture capital fund established by Saudi Arabia state oil giant Saudi Aramco, has continued its run of robotics investments in Asia by joining a USD 150m Series D for China’s Jaka Robotics.
It is one of four lead investors alongside Temasek Holdings, TrueLight Capital, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Jaka, which was founded in 2014 as a spinoff from Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s robotic research lab and has more than 10,000 collaborative robots in operation globally, has raised more than USD 220m to date.
This is Prosperity7’s third China robotics investment in 10 months. It previously supported a USD 200m Series D raised by service robot manufacturer Keenon Robotics and a USD 63m Series D for healthcare and rehabilitation robot specialist Fourier. Both those rounds were led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
Jaka’s robots are used in the production lines of well-known manufacturers in the automotive, electronics, and semiconductor industries, including the likes of Toyota, Honda, and Volkswagen. The company has established technology centres in Japan and Germany and claims to be working with more than 300 automation companies to provide localised services.
Jaka produces robotic arms across five different categories, with payload capacities of 1-18 kilograms and a reach of 576 millimetres to 1.7 metres. Functional capabilities range from welding to assembly.
“Our cobots have extensive communication interfaces and are equipped with vision systems, force sensors and other external devices,” said Mingyang Li, the company’s CEO, in a statement.
“The perception equipment and robot design can be deeply integrated. It enables robots to independently carry out task planning in a complicated, unstructured environment, realising the progress from human-machine cooperation to human-machine integration, covering more production areas.”
Aysar Tayeb, an executive director at Prosperity7, added that robotics represents an attractive future megatrend as human-machine interaction becomes more important in industry 4.0 scenarios. He said that Prosperity7 would leverage Aramco’s network to help Jaka scale and globalise.
According to AVCJ Research, Jaka raised an extended Series A of CNY 60m (USD 9.5m) from FG Venture in 2018. SAIF Partners led a CNY 100m investment in 2019 and then Series C and extended Series C rounds amounting to USD 50m closed in 2021. CPE and State Development & Investment Corporation (SDIC) led the Series C, with participation from existing investor FG Venture.
More on Expansion
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.