Participated · Series A · Jun 2020

WiBotic develops advanced wireless charging and power-optimization solutions for aerial, mobile and marine robots. Its hardware and software products aim to maximize robot fleet uptime and serve as integral components of fully autonomous robotic operations. The company works with customers across a variety of industries to optimize robot operations. WiBotic is based in Seattle, WA, and is led by CEO Ben Waters. It raised $5.7M in a Series A and plans to use the proceeds to accelerate growth, expand its sales team, advance hardware and software engineering, and meet increased customer demand. Following the raise, Mark Rogers joined WiBotic’s board of directors. Wibotic is a Seattle-based provider of wireless power and battery intelligence solutions for the robotic industry. Its core product automatically detects approaching robots or landing drones and wirelessly charges their batteries via a charging platform. The technology targets aerial, mobile and aquatic robot fleets, helping companies optimize fleet uptime and enabling fully autonomous operations. Founded in 2015 by CEO Ben Waters, the company positions its solutions as integral components of autonomous robotic systems. The new $2.5m seed funding will be used primarily to enhance product development and increase sales and marketing activities. WiBotic offers a wireless charging solution for drones and robots that combines a transmitter/receiver system with battery-management tools and fleet-level power optimization. The company says its adaptive near-field wireless charging is more efficient than standard inductive and resonant systems, can charge at the same or faster rates than plug-in chargers, and reduces maintenance costs. Its system enables autonomous charging to remove the need for human intervention and to extend battery lifetime, and it is reported to work in varying weather conditions and underwater. Customers span industries including agriculture, medical, security, videography, and marine biology, and the company expects to add more clients. WiBotic was founded within UW’s electrical engineering and computer science departments by Ben Waters and professor Joshua Smith and has support from UW’s CoMotion. The company is about a year old and operates with a roughly 10-person team.