Japan's Telexistence gets $170m Series B
Japanese connected robotics start-up Telexistence has raised USD 170m in Series B funding featuring SoftBank Group, Foxconn, Airbus, and Globis Capital Partners.
Local VC firms Monoful Venture Partners and Global Brain also participated, with the latter investing via its third fund in partnership with telecoms operator KDDI Corporation. Foxconn is investing through a joint venture with Taiwan’s CTBC Financial Holding called HH-CTBC Partnership. Airbus committed capital from its corporate VC unit.
The investment coincides with Telexistence entering into strategic partnerships with Foxconn and SoftBank Robotic Group, a subsidiary of SoftBank Group. Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision industry, is an investor in both of SoftBank’s Vision funds.
The SoftBank Robotic partnership will promote a global expansion with a focus on commercialisation in North America, while the Foxconn partnership will advance mass production of a virtual reality (VR) control system called Ghost. Ryohei Nomoto, a principal at Globis, will be appointed to the company board alongside a nomination by SoftBank Robotic.
Telexistence was conceptualised in 1980 and founded in 2017 by robotics and engineering professor Susumu Tachi. His research focused on telexistence, a term for the idea of people operating in remote environments via robotics and related technologies.
The company describes its technology as “expanding the presence of human beings.” It combines remote control systems using VR and WiFi with connected robotics and artificial intelligence. Systems in development are said to be optimised to avoid users becoming sick due to in-cockpit VR effects. The ability to pick and place objects remotely is a key feature.
Telexistence claims to have deployed hundreds of its own robots in dynamic environments outside factories and executed at commercial scale. In 2021, it announced a partnership with FamilyMart, one of the three major convenience store chains in Japan, through which the team is deploying its robots to 300 of the retailer’s stores.
Ramping up mass production capabilities and expanding in North America are the core priorities of the Series B, although there will also be a significant focus on sourcing additional talent globally. The current team is comprised of professionals from 25 different countries.
Previous funding includes a JPY 2.2bn round in 2021 featuring Global Brain, Monoful, Airbus, Deepcore, and UTokyo Innovation Platform. Tachi is a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo. The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) invested as early as May 2017 alongside Global Brain, which at the time invested via its second vintage with KDDI.
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