Promise Robotics brings in $15M to bring automation to homebuilding

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Promise Robotics’ robotic system aims to remove the risk from homebuilders by offering products that benefit from a decade of operational excellence, continuous improvement, and successful homebuilding. | Source: Promise Robotics

Promise Robotics, an AI company developing a cloud-based industrial production platform for robotic construction and assembly, has raised $15 million in Series A funding. The latest round brings the company’s total funding to date to $25 million. 

The new funding will help Promise Robotics commercialize its robotic factory platform to support its growing demand from homebuilders and to continue expanding its product IP in AI, computer vision, and industrialized robotics systems for construction. 

The company’s system enables the homebuilding industry to deploy automation at scale. Promise Robotics’ AI platform transforms off-the-shelf industrial robots into ready-to-deploy production systems powered by its proprietary cloud-based operating system that manages this entire production lifecycle. The company manages the entire automation lifecycle within factories as a service, freeing its customers to focus on homebuilding and growing their businesses. 

“Builders are reluctant to invest in costly factories and then endure years of trial and error to achieve operational success,” Ramtin Attar, CEO and co-founder of Promise Robotics, said. “These capital and knowledge barriers have historically impeded the industry’s ability to invest in automation technology. We have melded our first-hand expertise in automated homebuilding with transformative technology innovations to remove both barriers to broader adoption.”

Horizons Ventures led the round, which also included participation from Radical Ventures, Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), and strategic investors including United Brotherhood of Carpenters, Relay Ventures, and Alate Partners. 

“It’s hard to imagine we will be building homes the same way in 5-10 years. Promise Robotics is well-positioned to be a disruptive force in this industry,” Kerry Liu, an investor at Horizons Ventures, said. “We studied the landscape and concluded that Promise Robotics was not only a technical leader, they had an immediate eye towards working with the home builder and rapid commercialization. This is not surprising given the background of the founders. We’re thrilled to support them on this journey.”

Promise Robotics was founded by Ramtin Attar and Reza Nasseri, a former R&D executive at Autodesk and an accomplished Canadian homebuilder. The company emerged less than three years ago, and is rooted in the founders’ track record in large-scale automated home construction. The founders have completed thousands of homes operating a high-volume prefab factory out of Alerta, Canada. 

The company estimates that for every 1 million new homes, the company can save the industry $130 billion in cost, reduce GHG Emmisions by 560MT, and generate 16,000 new categories of jobs.