Robotics investments reach $620M in February 2023

Listen to this article

Robotics funding for February 2023 totaled $620 million as the result of 36 investments. See Table 1 below or download Table 1 here. The February investments bring the 2023 total to approximately $1.14B. Investments in January 2023 totaled $521 million.

Companies offering unmanned aerial drones, usually coupled with drone-enabled data and analytics services, were particularly strong in February 2023, with firms receiving sizable mid- to late-stage funding rounds. These providers typically focus on surveying and inspection applications, with construction, agriculture, utilities and energy sectors as the target markets. Examples include Skydio ($230M Series E), Fulfil Solutions ($60M Series B), Garuda Aerospace ($22M Series A) and i-KINGTEC ($20M Series C). UK-based DRONAMICS landed $40M in Seed funding.

Table 1: February 2023 Robotics Funding and Investment

Companies located in the USA received the most rounds (14) and the most funding ($436M), dwarfing other countries (Figure 1). Investment into Chinese firms came in at a distant second (7 rounds for a total of $81M).

Figure 1: February 2023 Robotics Investment by Country

All funding types were well represented in February 2023 (Figure 2). Series E rounds accounted for the bulk of the funding amounts, buoyed by investments into drone data services providers Zeitview (formerly DroneBase) and Skydio, at $55M and $230M, respectively (Figure 3).

Figure 2: February 2023 Robotics Funding Amounts by Investment Type

Figure 3: February 2023 Robotics Funding Amounts by Investment Number and Amounts

Editor’s note: What defines robotics investments? The answer to this simple question is central in any attempt to quantify them with some degree of rigor. To make investment analyses consistent, repeatable, and valuable, it is critical to wring out as much subjectivity as possible during the evaluation process. This begins with a definition of terms and a description of assumptions.

Investors and investing
Investment should come from venture capital firms, corporate investment groups, angel investors, and other sources. Friends-and-family investments, government/non-governmental agency grants, and crowd-sourced funding are excluded.

Robotics and intelligent systems companies
Robotics companies must generate or expect to generate revenue from the production of robotics products (that sense, analyze, and act in the physical world), hardware or software subsystems and enabling technologies for robots, or services supporting robotics devices. For this analysis, autonomous vehicles (including technologies that support autonomous driving) and drones are considered robots, while 3D printers, CNC systems, and various types of “hard” automation are not.

Companies that are “robotic” in name only, or use the term “robot” to describe products and services that do not enable or support devices acting in the physical world, are excluded. For example, this includes “software robots” and robotic process automation. Many firms have multiple locations in different countries. Company locations given in the analysis are based on the publicly listed headquarters in legal documents, press releases, etc.

Verification
Funding information is collected from a number of public and private sources. These include press releases from corporations and investment groups, corporate briefings, market research firms, and association and industry publications. In addition, information comes from sessions at conferences and seminars, as well as during private interviews with industry representatives, investors, and others. Unverifiable investments are excluded and estimates are made where investment amounts are not provided or are unclear.