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September fundings, acquisitions, IPOs and failures
September continued the big-money spree for funding robotic startups. 10 good-sized deals and three little ones. Almost $220 million (bringing the year-to-date total well over $1 billion)! Plus...
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Samsung acquires Viv in a quest to link all its appliances
Source: Viv Labs Dag Kittlaus, founder and CEO of Siri, Inc., produced and uploaded an app into the Apple App store February 2010. The app quickly rose to 1st in the ‘Lifestyle Section.’ In March,...
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Zymergen gets $130 million from SoftBank and other VCs
SoftBank, the Japanese telecom conglomerate, led a group that included Iconiq Capital, Prelude Ventures, Tao Capital Partners, and seven others in a $130 million funding round for Zymergen to help the...
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IFR’s two reports for 2015 show double-digit growth for remainder of decade
Each year the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) surveys and tabulates data from its worldwide network of robotics associations. The two 2016 annual World Robotics Industrial Robots and World...
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The changing landscape of drone funding
CB Insights Drone Quarterly Financing Trends to VC-Backed Companies shows a downward trend. The Robot Report's monthly funding reports shows something different: a change in the nature of drone...
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The delicate balance between brilliance, safety and arrogance
George “Geohot” Hotz Presents the Comma One at Disrupt SF. Source: TechCrunch/YouTube Silicon Valley and other technology centers have their share of brilliant minds. Some of them have similarly...
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October fundings, acquisitions, IPOs and failures
October fundings for robotics-related startups totaled $306.75 million bringing the year-to-date funding figure very close to $1.5 billion. For acquisitions, three of the six companies acquired...
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Zoox raises $50 million for their stealthy Silicon Valley venture
Zoox, the secretive Silicon Valley startup working to build its own self-driving cars, has quietly raised $50 million (in October) in a Series A round led by Composite Capital Management, a Hong...
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Digital farms are already a reality
Source: Nesta.org, Precision Agriculture Farmers, ranchers and growers the world over are transitioning to precision agricultural methods, i.e., subdividing their acreage into many unique sub-plots —...
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Lofty goals crash land while B2B drones prosper
Credit: Aeryon labs inc. Key executives leaving (or were requested to leave) Goggle’s drone delivery Project Wing; GoPro recalls all of its newly launched Karma drones and doesn’t offer a replacement;...
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Two robotic stock IPOs coming to market
For the last few years, there have been very few stock IPOs (Initial Public Offerings). Promising companies have been acquired instead, eg: Kiva Systems and Universal Robots. But two robotics-related...
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Let’s hope Trump does what he says regarding robots and robotics
In President-elect Trump's interview with the NY Times yesterday, when discussing jobs, closed factories and factories that may leave the country, he was asked: "Are you worried that those companies...
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US auto industry installed 135,000 robots and added 230,000 jobs
Source: IFR.org In the last six years, (2010–2015), according to the IFR (International Federation of Robotics), US industry has installed around 135,000 new industrial robots. The principal driver is...
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November fundings, acquisitions, IPOs and failures
Seventeen robotics-related companies got funded for a combined total of over $225 million. Four more got acquired. Three went public to raise funds. And one failed. Fundings: Seven Dreamers Labs...
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Self-driving cars, networks, and the companies and people that are...
Intel is establishing an autonomous driving division; hacker George Hotz is open-sourcing his self-driving software in a bid to become a network company; LiDAR and distancing devices are changing....
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Beijing World Robot Conference drew big crowds and notable speakers
The Beijing World Robot Conference (WRC), sponsored by Beijing City, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the China Association of Science and Technology, was held October 21-25....
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Liquid Robotics acquired by Boeing Defense, Space & Security
Source: Liquid Robotics In a move consistent with many other recent acquisitions of stars within the robotics industry, Liquid Robotics announced that they sold their company to Boeing’s Autonomous...
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Robots may save the global economy
A recent article in The Washington Post by Morgan Stanley strategist and author of “The Rise and Fall of Nations” Ruchir Sharma, provides a nuanced overview of the issues of jobs, robots, productivity...
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Teledyne Technologies acquires British imaging sensor maker E2V Technologies
Teledyne Technologies, which specializes in deepwater gas and oil exploration and production, oceanographic research, air and water quality environmental monitoring, electronics design and...
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Rethink Robotics raises another $18 million
Rethink Robotics, the Boston-based maker of the Baxter and Sawyer robots founded by iRobot co-founder Rodney Brooks, raised an additional $18 million in an unfinished $33 million Series E round led by...
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