Robotics investments top $1.63B in April 2023

Listen to this article

Robotics investments totaled $1.63 billion in April 2023 as a result of 47 investments (see Table 1 below or download Table 1 HERE). The April investments bring the 2023 robotics funding total to approximately $3.3 billion. Investments totaled $526 million in March 2023, $620 million in February 2023 and $521 million in January 2023. 

Table 1: April 2023 Robotics Funding and Investment

U.S.-based robotics companies landed the most rounds (17) and funding ($514M) in April. Chinese and Swiss firms also received substantial funding ($104M and $165M, respectively). See Figure 1 below.

It should be noted that South Korea, an outlier having a single company receiving funding, was included in the ‘Other’ category. However, that company, 42dot, a provider of self-driving software and hardware solutions for autonomous transportation, received a substantial funding amount of $783 million. Other sizable April 2023 robotics investments include Zipline ($330 million), Distalmotion ($150 million), Covariant ($75 million), Carbon Robotics ($30 million), Phantom Auto ($25 million) and Robust.AI ($20 million).

Figure 1: April 2023 Robotics Investment by Country

Early investments (Pre-Seed, Seed and A rounds) accounted for most of the investments (42%). In terms of investment amounts, rounds deemed ‘Other’ attached most of the funding dollars. A single Series C round (Zipline, $330M) accounted for 20% of April 2023’s funding totals.

Figure 2: April 2023 Robotics Funding Amounts by Investment Type

Figure 3: April 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.