Here’s how much robotics companies raised in May 2023

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May 2023 robotics funding equaled $686 million (See Table 1 below or download Table 1 HERE), the result of 61 investments. With the May investments, the 2023 robotics funding comes to approximately $4 billion.

Funding topped $1.63 billion in April, $526 million in March, $620 million in February and $521 million in January.

Table 1: May 2023 Robotics Funding and Investment

Companies based in China received the most number of rounds (23) and the greatest investment amount ($257M). Swiss firms also received substantial funding ($111M), followed by Israel ($75M), Germany ($72M), and the USA ($70M).

Makers of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) continue to attract new investment. May 2023 robotics investments were notable for the large number of rounds into producers of AMRs, with funding amounts ranging widely. Slip Robotics, Blue Ocean Robot System, PuduTech, Saha Robotics, Xin Yihua (Sineva Robot) and Candela serve as examples.

Providers of drones, drone-enabled services and enabling technologies continued to attract the attention of the investment community. For example, Vantage Robotics, i-KINGTEC and Quantum Systems each received $20 million in funding, with many other companies attracting lesser amounts.

Figure 1: May 2023 Robotics Investment by Country

Series B rounds accounted for many sizable investments (Figure 2, below). Moon Surgical ($55M), ecoRobotix ($52M), ADASKY ($30M), GITAI ($28M), Blue Ocean Robotics ($25M), AutoCore ($25M), Hanyang Technology ($20M), Kossi ($14M), Voyager Technology ($14M) and Human in Motion Robotics ($10M), serve as examples.

Figure 2: May 2023 Robotics Funding Amounts by Investment Type

Figure 3: May 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.