[StartupRecipe] Robotics Startups Are Raking In Big Money

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#Weekly Funding Overview

[Dec. 5 ~ Dec. 9]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of this week is KRW 110 billion.

Company	Industry	Amount	Round	Investors
senior world	Silver care	-	M&A	Carenation
STAR PICKERS	Mobility	-	Seed	CNTTech
Akros Technologies	Fintech	3 billion		ZVC
infomining	Healthcare	5.5 billion	Series A	E& Investment, Magna Investment, We Ventures
Value of space	Prophtech	5.5 billion	Series A	SBI Investment, Korea Investment Partners, Woomi global, Finda
Tessa	Fintech	-		Kyobo Securities
Mysterico	Data Analysis	-		Primer Sazze Partners
Eruda marketing	Media commerce	3.5 billion		onventure
VillageBaby	Kids platform	7 billion	Series A	Samsung Venture Investment, ZVC, Flux Ventures-Mirae Asset Venture Investment Consortium, Digital Healthcare Partners, Big Basin Capital, Hyundai Marine & Marine Insurance
Pay Crux Company	Retail tech	-	M&A	V.D Company
Mrmention	Accomodation	2 billion		Coolidge Corner Investment, K-Bridge Investment
Paywatch	Fintech	13 billion	Pre-Series A	Thire Prime, Vanderbilt Univ, Hana Ventures, University of Illinois Foundation
Twelvelabs	AI	16 billion	Seed	Radical Ventures, index Ventures, Wndrco Ventures, Spring Ventures
Imagoworks	Digital Healthcare	3.5 billion	Series A	BNH Investment, Intervest, KB Investment, Company K Partners
Medifoodplatform	Healthcare	-	Pre-Series A	Pharmaresearch
Zictok	Blockchain	-		W-KON
Corcaai	AI	-		Igaworks
Jeclean	Bed care	-	Pre-Series A	Seoul Techno Holdings
Bunker Kids	Healthcare	3 billion	Series A	Kakao Ventures, Rising S Ventures, Spring Camp
Tripbtoz	Travel	5 billion		GIANTSTEP
Kaviar	Food	11 billion	Series B	Stonebridge Ventures, GS Retail, Danal, Woori Bank, Tyche Investment
Pleisure	Sports	-	Seed	CNTTech
Bodyworks	Sports	2.3 billion
Meraki Place	Healthcare	6.2 billion	Pre-Series A	KB Investment, Laguna Investment, Cowell Investment, Tail, Goodwater Capital, Spring Camp, Fast Ventures, Bass Investment

Major Funding

• Restaurant startup GFFG has secured its first institutional investment of KRW 30 billion. It runs nine food service brands, including Cafe Knotted and a burger joint Downtowner.
• Kaviar, a platform for curating gourmet food, has raised KRW 11 billion. It productizes famous restaurants’ trademark dishes as HMR goods.
• Twelve Labs, an AI-powered video search platform, has received a further KRW 16 billion in investment from local and international investors, completing its seed funding round of KRW 22 billion. Its service allows you to find specific scenes in the video with natural language queries.

#Trend Analysis

Robotics Startups Are Raking In Big Money 

While B2C online platforms have dominated the investment scene for the past few years, B2B manufacturing startups are now drawing significant funding. Startups in the robot industry, in particular, are receiving large-scale investments. According to the Startup Recipe, investors’ favorite robotics startups this year were service robots for logistics and dining.

Bear Robotics has secured KRW 100 billion in funding, making it the most well-funded robotics startup of the year. The total funds raised exceed KRW 145 billion. Bear Robotics, a Silicon Valley-based company, manufactures self-driving serving robots that take the role of human servers in restaurants. It aims to become the first unicorn in the robot industry. VD Company has received its first external funding of KRW 9.9 billion with serving robots. It has expanded the business by offering automation solutions for restaurants, with a focus on serving robots that can be found in VIPS and Ashley Queens. Another serving robotics startup, RGT, has garnered strategic investment from Barogo and NICE Group this year after raising KRW 4 billion last year. 

A large amount of money has been flowing into robot delivery startups. Neubility, a company that develops urban self-driving robots, has secured KRW 23 billion and is making outdoor delivery robots. The company reduced the costs by applying a camera-based autonomous driving solution. With 7-Eleven, it is currently testing robot deliveries of convenience store goods in the Bangbae neighborhood.

Some startups make various service robots for our daily lives. XYZ produces robot arms for unmanned stores that can make coffee and ice cream. It recently acquired Cobot, an autonomous robotics startup, and broadened its scope from unmanned stores to unmanned deliveries. Robo Arte automates the entire chicken cooking process with a collaborative robot arm and makes 50 fried chickens per hour.

Robotics and solutions for the logistics sector caught the attention of investors as well.

Within its first year of operation, Floatic, which introduced logistics automation robots, has attracted strategic investment of KRW 3.4 billion from major enterprises. Its robots are used in e-commerce logistics centers to automate order-picking tasks. Daim Research also designs logistics robot systems, provides solutions, and supports the automation of logistics environments. Additionally, Clobot offers B2B companies robot solutions. It implements robot-specific services while taking the robot’s hardware and the actual operating environment into account. THiRA Robotics has self-driving robot technology and develops both robots and software. 

The government plans to form an alliance with companies such as LG Electronics and KT to invigorate the self-driving robot market while fostering talent to boost the K robot industry. Nevertheless, there are several obstacles that prohibit the business from growing, such as laws governing the use of cooperative robots in the field and outdoor self-driving. It is necessary to amend the law in order to improve the environment.

Company Name	Company Description	Investment Amount	Investment Round	Investors
Bear Robotics	Self-driving Serving Robot	KRW 100 Billion	Series B	IMM Private Equity, Cleveland Avenue, KT, SmileGate Investment, DSC Investment
Neubility	Self-driving Robot Delivery	KRW 23 Billion	Series A	IMM Investment, Signite Partners, Lotte Ventures, Samsung Welstory, DS&Partners, KB Investment, 42dot, SKT-Infinitum Fund, Capstone Partners, FuturePlay, Shinhan Capital
XYZ	Service Robotics Startup	KRW 10 Billion	Series A	Magna Investment, Korea Investment Partners, Hyundai Motor Group ZER01NE, Bilanx Investment, Samsung Venture Investment, Humax
VD Company	Serving Robot	KRW 9.9 Billion		Hana Ventures
Clobot	Self-driving Robot	KRW 9.5 Billion	Series B	Premier Partners, Shinhan Venture Investment, L&S Venture Capital, Hyundai Motor Group ZER01NE, Honest Ventures
Robo Arte	Robotics Startup	KRW 7.5 Billion	Series A	Korea Investment Partners, GS Retail, Industrial Bank of Korea, SmartStudy Ventures, Mega Investment, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund
THiRA Robotics	Self-driving Robot	KRW 5.5 Billion	Pre-Series A	Kiwoom New Hero No.2 Technology Innovation Fund., E&Venture Smart Investment Fund No.3
Aidin Robotics	Robot Solution	KRW 4.5 Billion	Series A	DSC Investment, BNK Venture Capital, Kolon Investment, FuturePlay
Floatic	Robotics for Logistics Automation	KRW 3.4 Billion	Pre-Series A	Be High Investment, Hyundai Motor Group ZER01NE, Korea Development Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, Naver D2SF
ABLE Labs	Automated Robots for Bio Experiments	KRW 3 Billion	Pre-Series A	Mirae Asset Venture Investment, FuturePlay
Daim Research	Manufacturing & Logistics Automation Solution	KRW 2 Billion	Pre-Series A	Naver D2SF, Company K Partners, Stonebridge Ventures, KITEEF
Reset Company	Solar Panel Unmanned Cleaning Robot	KRW 1.3 Billion	Pre-Series A	Series Ventures, CCEI Gyeongnam, Lighthouse Combined Investment, Hana Financial Group, Korea Social Investment Foundation
Safetics	Safety Analytics Solution for Collaborative Robots	KRW 1.1 Billion	Pre-Series A	Big Basin Capital