Softbank Group (Softbank)
Canvas Category Consultancy : Company : Venture Capital
The aim of our company is to contribute to people’s happiness through the Information Revolution, and become the corporate group needed most by people around the world. To achieve our vision, SoftBank strives to create an ideal society where everyone can feel the convenience, comfort, and safety, by the power of digital technology on top of the strong foundation of our businesses.
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Skild AI Announcing our $300M Series A Funding
We founded Skild AI in 2023 with the goal to build intelligence that is grounded in the physical world. In just a short period, we’ve assembled a stellar team, and achieved significant breakthroughs towards building a scalable AI foundation model for robotics. We’re excited to officially take Skild AI out of stealth, and announce that we’ve raised $300 million in Series A funding, which values our company at $1.5 billion. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue, SoftBank Group, and Jeff Bezos (through Bezos Expeditions), with participation from Felicis Ventures, Sequoia, Menlo Ventures, General Catalyst, CRV, SV Angel, Carnegie Mellon University, and the Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund & the Alexa Fund.
Our foundation model is trained on an unparalleled scale of data, representing a breakthrough in the robotics data barrier. As opposed to vertically designed robots that are built for specific applications or only deployed in isolated or constrained environments, our model serves as a general-purpose brain. It has demonstrated unparalleled generalization and emergent capabilities across a diverse embodiment of robots, scenarios and tasks, including manipulation, locomotion and navigation.
Skild AI Raises $300M Series A To Build A Scalable AI Foundation Model For Robotics
Skild AI, an AI robotics company building a scalable foundation model for robotics, announced it has closed a $300M Series A funding round. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue, SoftBank Group, and Jeff Bezos (through Bezos Expeditions), with participation from Felicis Ventures, Sequoia, Menlo Ventures, General Catalyst, CRV, Amazon, SV Angel, and Carnegie Mellon University. The funding brings the company to a valuation of $1.5B. The capital will be used to continue scaling the company’s model and training datasets for future commercial deployment of its technology, in addition to hiring for roles across AI, robotics, engineering, operations, and security.
Skild AI is building intelligence that is grounded in the physical world. The company is breaking the data barrier in robotics, training its model on at least 1,000X more data points than competing models. As opposed to vertically designed robots that are built for specific applications, Skild’s model serves as a shared, general-purpose brain for a diverse embodiment of robots, scenarios and tasks, including manipulation, locomotion and navigation. From resilient quadrupeds mastering adverse physical conditions, to vision-based humanoids performing dexterous manipulation of objects for complex household and industrial tasks, the company’s model will enable the use of low-cost robots across a broad range of industries and applications.
Wayve raises more than $1B in Series C
Wayve has raised $1.05 billion in its Series C funding round, the company announced. The artificial intelligence-powered autonomous driving company plans to use the new funding to bolster its goal of reimagining autonomous mobility through embodied intelligence - which is meant to extend past generative AI and large language models.
The company out of London received the funding from a group of investors led by SoftBank Group, with input from Nvidia, a new investor, and Microsoft, an existing investor.
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia Sets Up Industrial Robotics Facility With SoftBank
Saudi Arabia’s new $100 billion investment firm announced a string of deals Tuesday, including partnerships with SoftBank Group Corp. and a Chinese surveillance equipment maker to set up local manufacturing facilities, as part of the kingdom’s efforts to transform itself into an industrial powerhouse.
The new vehicle, Alat, and SoftBank will invest as much as $150 million to establish a fully-automated manufacturing and engineering hub in Riyadh. The venture will build industrial robots based on intellectual property developed by SoftBank, with the first factory set to open in December.
SoftBank Group and Symbotic Establish New Warehouse-as-a-Service Joint Venture
SoftBank Group Corp. (TSE: 9984, “SoftBank”) and Symbotic Inc. (Nasdaq: SYM), a leader in A.I.-powered automation technology for the supply chain, today announced the establishment of GreenBox Systems LLC (“GreenBox”), a new joint venture to address the more than $5001 billion annual warehouse-as-a-service market opportunity. Concurrently, Symbotic also announced an approximately $7.5 billion new customer contract with GreenBox, who will be the exclusive provider of Symbotic systems in the warehouse-as-a-service market, and will make supply chain services available to customers.
SoftBank and Symbotic own 65% and 35% of GreenBox, respectively, with the joint venture established today. GreenBox will initially be funded with $100 million of capital contributed pro rata by Symbotic and SoftBank to fund operating expenses and initial system purchases. After Symbotic’s initial $35 million pro rata capital contribution, the contract is expected to be accretive to Symbotic’s annual free cash flow (net of capital contributions).
🦾 Retail robotics startup Telexistence raises $170M
Telexistence Inc., a startup developing artificial intelligence-powered robots for the retail sector, today announced that it has raised $170 million in funding. One of the investors in the Series B round was SoftBank Group Corp. Last month, SoftBank signaled that it plans to step up the pace of its AI investments following a year of limited venture capital activity. The company scaled back its participation in startup funding rounds last year to address market headwinds. Besides SoftBank, Telexistence’s latest raise also included the participation of several other backers. Among them were Airbus Ventures, Monoful Partners, KDDI Open Innovation and Globis Capital Partners.
In FamilyMart stores, the shelves that hold packaged goods are often embedded into the walls. Behind each shelf is a corridor accessible only to employees and a merchandise storage area. When a certain product runs out, employees enter the corridor, pick up new merchandise from the storage area and place it on the shelf. Telexistence’s TX SCARA robot automates the task. It’s a mobile robot arm designed to operate in the employee-only corridor between a store shelf and the merchandise storage area. The TX SCARA can detect when a product is out of stock, pick up new merchandise from the storage area and place it on the relevant part of the shelf.
Proposed Tender Offer From SoftBank Group to Acquire Balyo’s Shares
Through its portfolio of automated robotic forklift technologies, Balyo is complementary to SoftBank’s existing investments in the Transportation and Logistics industries. This acquisition will also provide access to SoftBank’s global network of 470+ technology-led companies with scope to develop new commercial relationships for mutual benefit. Balyo’s Board of Directors believe that through this partnership, the Company will benefit substantially from SoftBank’s technological and commercial expertise while also securing the necessary financial resources to reach its full potential.
Berkshire Grey Enters into Definitive Merger Agreement with SoftBank Group for Go-Private Transaction
Berkshire Grey, Inc. (Nasdaq: BGRY), today announced that the Company has entered into a definitive merger agreement with SoftBank Group Corp. and its affiliate. Under the agreement, SoftBank will acquire all of the outstanding capital stock of the Company not currently owned by SoftBank for $1.40 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $375 million. SoftBank, a strategic investment holding company with stakes in AI, smart robotics, IoT, telecommunications, internet services, and clean energy technology providers, has been an investor in Berkshire Grey since 2019.
SoftBank-Backed CloudMinds Weighs $500 Million Hong Kong IPO
Artificial intelligence-powered robot developer CloudMinds Inc. is considering a Hong Kong initial public offering that could raise as much as $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter. The Shanghai-based firm is working with China International Capital Corp. and Haitong International Securities Group Ltd. on preparations for the share sale, the people said. A listing could take place as early as this year, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.
SoftBank-backed Chinese robot maker, JAKA, to build plant in Toyota's backyard
JAKA is one of a number of companies looking to challenge Denmark-based Universal Robots’s lead in collaborative robots, also called co-robots, which play a complementary role to the hulking machines on automated assembly lines. Other contenders include Japan’s Fanuc and Chinese startup Elite Robot. JAKA’s advantage comes from the size of its home market, as well as its track record as a Toyota supplier. The company’s mean time between failure is 80,000 hours, the equivalent of one incident every nine years or so.
JAKA now makes all of its robots in Changzhou, China, at a factory with an annual capacity of about 10,000 units. For JAKA, the Nagoya plant is not only about serving Japanese buyers. In preparation for the expansion, JAKA Robotics raised a total of 1 billion yuan ($148 million) from investors including SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Prosperity7 Ventures, a fund under Saudi Aramco.
JAKA Robotics raises $150M for collaborative robots
JAKA Robotics has raised $150 million in Series D funding. This follows a $50 million Series C funding round earlier in 2021. JAKA plans to use the Series D funding to further support globalization of the company and the research and development of its collaborative robot (cobot) arm.
Excited to Announce Aquabyte’s $25M Series B
In 2017, Aquabyte was an idea and a prototype. The prototype was a camera powered by AI and Machine Learning, to capture and analyze images of underwater fish.
So today, five years since that initial prototype in my San Francisco bathtub, I am proud and grateful to announce that we have completed our Series B funding. I am grateful for the commitment of SoftBank Ventures Asia, The Nature Conservancy, Westerly Winds, New Enterprise Associates, Costanoa Ventures, ArcTern Ventures, Alliance Venture, and Struck Capital who are joining us as investors, friends, and true partners.
RightHand Robotics Secures $66 Million in Series C Funding
RightHand Robotics, a leader in data-driven, autonomous robotic picking solutions for order fulfillment, announces today that it has secured $66 million in a Series C financing led by top growth investors: Safar Partners, a technology venture fund; Thomas H. Lee Partners L.P. (“THL”), a leading investor in automation and supply chain; and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, which is part of the SoftBank Group. Zebra Technologies, Epson and Global Brain also join this round, along with previous investors GV, F-Prime Capital, Menlo Ventures, Matrix Partners and Tony Fadell’s Future Shape. Previous rounds were led by Menlo Ventures and Playground Global.
RightHand Robotics intends to use the funds to accelerate product and business development, while scaling its global presence and partner network. The company will also expand its offices and invest in talent acquisition to support overall growth plans.
Reibus Secures $75M Series B Funding to Further Revolutionize the Metals Supply Chain Ecosystem
Reibus, the independent metals marketplace, announced it raised $75M in Series B funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. This latest funding round comes as Reibus enjoys its third year, and its strongest year yet, with revenue up more than 7x over 2020.
This investment brings Reibus to total funding in excess of $100 million and a valuation of $750 million. Along with SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Reibus enjoys continued investment from Canaan Partners, Nosara Capital, Battery Ventures, Bowery Capital, Initialized Capital, and FJ Labs. The fundraise will further fuel the company’s rapid growth, including: Expanding the marketplace and mobile app tools and services, Accelerating new financial and logistical products, Expanding European business with new dedicated team and resources.