Deeptech

Q1 202408.02.2024

Robotics

Picture of Shubham Jaipuria

Shubham Jaipuria

at Sifted

The automation revolution has begun: robots have entered factories, operating theatres, recycling centres, nursing homes and battlefields. Their makers fetched over $2bn from VCs in 2023, which is not a major dip from the $2.6bn and $2.4bn they raised during the tech boom years of 2021 and 2022. Investor sentiment is bullish: the 2023 slowdown has not been so harsh on Europe’s cyborgs.

Service robots — the ones that assist humans by doing repetitive tasks — appear to be getting more attention than industrial robots lately: their market share increased from 51% in 2016 to 71.8% in 2023. For industrial robots, look no further than Germany: the country has the third highest robot adoption in the world, with 415 robots for every 10k employees.

Will robots steal our jobs? Some might, though fears around this topic are perhaps not as pervasive here as they once were: a recent Gallup poll found that only 10% of Germans believe they are at risk of losing out to automation. And there are still some industries where robots don’t offer significant promise. For example, while robots are slowly making their way onto farms, the industry’s thin margins are acting as a deterrent to growth.

20 most promising early-stage startups

Sifted score
8.48
-
Gideon
Building flexible autonomous mobile robots
Strong investor(s)
Serial founder(s)
- Year founded
  2017
- HQ
  Zagreb, Croatia
- Latest round
  Series A
  €28.2m / Jun 2021
- Total funding
  €32.7m
View company profile
Sifted score
8.28
-
Nomagic
Automated warehouse robots for e-commerce
Strong investor(s)
Hiring
- Year founded
  2017
- HQ
  Warsaw, Poland
- Latest round
  Series A
  €20m / May 2022
- Total funding
  €27.8m
View company profile
Sifted score
7.78
-
Energy Robotics
Automated inspection robots for industrial facilities
Strong investor(s)
Serial founder(s)
Hiring
- Year founded
  2019
- HQ
  Darmstadt, Germany
- Latest round
  Grant
  €2.5m / Oct 2022
- Total funding
  €4.5m
View company profile
Sifted score
7.07
-
Daedalus
Platform for companies to order parts manufactured by robots
Strong investor(s)
Hiring
- Year founded
  2019
- HQ
  Karlsruhe, Germany
- Latest round
  Seed
  €5.5m / Feb 2023
- Total funding
  €17.9m
View company profile
Sifted score
6.91
-
Enchanted Tools
Developer of "social logistics" robots
Serial founder(s)
Hiring
- Year founded
  2021
- HQ
  Paris, France
- Latest round
  Seed
  €15m / Feb 2022
- Total funding
  €15m
View company profile

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