Keenon Robotics raises $200 million in Series D funding

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Keenon Robotics offers a large lineup of service AMRs. Image credit: Keenon Robotics

Keenon Robotics announces $200M in Series D funding, led by Softbank Vision Fund 2, followed by CICC ALPHA and Prosperity7 Ventures (the diversified growth fund of Aramco Ventures). This brings the total funding raised to date to $244M.

Keenon is a Shanghai-based, service robotics company that was founded in 2010. It has a rich lineup of autonomous mobile robots (AMR) that operate in a variety of industries such as real estate, healthcare, and hospitality. Keenon AMRs deliver packages in hotels, meals in restaurants, guide guests in malls and department stores, and disinfect facilities.

The company is planning to use the funding to “drive innovation through its in-house R&D to provide new, efficient, and cost saving applications, while scaling its current robot platform through the expansion in new markets and identifying new prospects to promote growth and boost revenue,” Tony Li, founder of Keenon Robotics.

Keenon offers a large lineup of AMRs. Here are two of the more popular models for disinfection (left) and delivery (right). | Image credit: Keenon

Keenon has been deeply involved in the commercial service robot track. Starting from the food delivery scenario, Keenon has gradually expand its application in hotels, KTVs, hospitals, and other scenarios, and continuously enlarge the scope of its industry-leading advantages.

Keenon currently has reached the markets in America, Europe, South Korea, and Singapore. By capitalizing on the strong relationships with its investors, Keenon focuses on building long-term value for the company by exploring new markets, trends, and customers.

Kentaro Matsui, Managing Director at SoftBank Group, former Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, said: “We believe robotic solutions can have a profound impact across the services industry by assisting with repetitive, tedious workflows. Using AI and machine learning, combined with advanced manufacturing capabilities, Keenon is building innovative robotics to help increase productivity for restaurants, hotels, and hospitals in China and globally. We are pleased to partner with Li Tong and the Keenon team to support their mission of driving the smart autonomous delivery revolution.”

Maxwell Zhou, member of the founding team and executive general manager of CICC ALPHA said: “The COVID-19 epidemic has significantly changed the way of communication. The non-contact economy will become an important development trend in the post-epidemic era. With the continuous maturity of positioning and navigation technologies such as laser SLAM and visual SLAM, commercial service robots represented by food delivery robots will usher in an explosion.”