Wireless drone and robot charging solutions provider WiBotic raises $5.7m

Seattle-based wireless drone and robot charging solutions provider WiBotic announced in a press release today that they have successfully raised $5.7m in a Series A funding round with investors including Junson Capital, SV Tech Ventures, Rolling Bay Ventures, Aves Capital, The W Fund, and WRF Capital, amongst others. 

WiBotic said they plan to use the funds to ‘accelerate the company’s growth’, expand it’s products suite, improve their customer support, and providing resources for their plan to grow their sales team as they focus efforts on internal hardware and software engineering. 

Speaking on what the funding will be used for Ben Waters said: “WiBotic will use the Series A funding to accelerate the company’s growth, expand our sales team, advance hardware and software engineering, and fulfil increased customer demand. Our mission is to power the world of autonomous systems. By providing mission-critical technologies for autonomous charging and fleet energy management, we help organizations quickly scale-up robotic fleets, improve robot uptime while reducing recurring charging and maintenance costs. Our successful Series A funding accelerates our innovation and growth to ensure we lead the charge in powering autonomous systems.”

WiBotic provide wireless charging and power optimisation solutions for the robotics and drone industry alongside their next-generation off-the-shelf hardware and software systems that most customers can use out of the box with any type of robot or drone. 

The wireless drone and robot charging solutions provider claim that their wireless charging is more resilient and reliable than contact-based systems while simplifying charging logistics and reducing maintenance costs.

The technology that WiBotic uses comes from eight years of research at the University of Washington in Seattle where co-founders Ben Waters and Joshua Smith came up with the idea for the business and providing the innovative charging solution for drones and robotics.

Currently WiBotic provide solutions to the ecosystem of aerial, mobile, marine, and industrial robots with the funding likely expanding their service offering into other sectors.  

The wireless drone and robot charging solutions provider already has an impressive customer list which includes Waypoint Robotics, Clearpath Robotics, and Aero Corp.

Geoff Entress, investor and Managing Director at Rolling Bay Ventures explained why they chose to invest in WiBotic: “WiBotic provides highly reliable wireless power solutions and really understands the complexities associated with managing hundreds or thousands of batteries in a fleet that all need to get charged up. This is a market that’s well positioned for growth. According to ABI Research’s recent Commercial and Industrial Robotics market data report, the robotics market is projected to hit a market valuation of $277 billion by 2030. This is driving increased demand for wireless charging technology that works seamlessly, with minimal human intervention. We’re optimistic about WiBotic’s vision and its ability to capture significant market share in a burgeoning industry.”

WiBotic joins a number of other companies within the robotics sector also successfully securing funding during the COVID-19 era with Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) Provider OTTO Motors raising $29m and Blue Prism raising over $120 million to bolster RPA capabilities.

WiBotics announced the addition of their new Chief Revenue Officer, Mark Rogers, in the press release who the company says has extensive expertise partnering with startups to enhance their sales strategies and revenue streams. 

Mark has held senior positions at Microsoft and more recently at Mendix which has been acquired by Siemens and will be joining WiBotics Board of Directors. 

Ben Waters expressed his excitement to have Mark Rogers on the Board of Directors by saying: “With the addition of Mark to our Board of Directors, WiBotic has gained a proven leader who will contribute significantly to our vision, technology and business growth. We’re thrilled to have attracted prominent investors, as well as a talented and experienced team of thought leaders and advisors, as we take our products to the next level of maturity.”

The Series A funding round brings WiBotics total raised capital to over $7m with the company last raising $2.5m in April 2017.