• Youibot

  Participated · Series B · Jan 2022

  Youibot Robotics is a Chinese developer of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and automation solutions. The company has closed a Series C funding round that is described as backed by a state investor. Following the fundraise, Youibot plans to invest 1.4 billion yuan (about $193 million) to set up new headquarters and manufacturing facilities. The planned investment is intended to establish new HQ and manufacturing capacity to support its AMR and automation product lines. The article does not disclose the Series C's size, other participating investors, or additional financial details. Youibot is identified in the article as a China-based company. YouiBot develops industrial mobile robots and end-to-end software-hardware solutions for industrial logistics, intelligent routine inspection, and operation & maintenance. The company is rooted in precision electronic manufacturing and the energy industry, and it claims a leading position in semiconductor and power-plant scenarios. Its solutions have been applied in semiconductor, 3C, electric power and IDC sectors, including an unmanned workshop deployment of 150 mobile robots and the YOUI TMS system in a 36,000 m2 precision electronics factory. YouiBot counts customers and partners such as LUXSHARE ICT, ASM, CRRC, FAST, China Huaneng, AICC, COMAC and Hitachi, and serves 26 provinces and cities domestically. The company exports products to more than 30 countries, including Japan, Korea, Singapore, Spain and Germany. YouiBot plans to use the new funding to expand operations, accelerate growth and broaden its business reach. Youibot is a four-year-old Shenzhen-based startup founded by a group of PhDs from Xi’an Jiaotong University that develops autonomous mobile robots and proprietary software for factory automation, logistics management, inspection and maintenance. Its robots are used in scenarios such as yard vehicle tire inspection (helping win a Michelin contract) and are noted for strength in electronics manufacturing and electric power patrol. The company is seeing high growth in its semiconductor business, with front-end wafer fabs using its robots for chip packaging, testing and wafer production. China accounts for roughly 80% of Youibot’s revenues, and the firm’s revenues tripled last year from 2020. Youibot went through SOSV’s HAX hardware accelerator and has raised more than 200 million yuan to date. The company plans to spend the latest proceeds on R&D for mobile robots and software, team building and market expansion.

• Spatial

  Participated · Equity · Dec 2021

  Spatial has repositioned from an AR/VR collaboration platform to a metaverse focused on cultural events such as NFT exhibitions, brand experiences, and conferences across web, mobile, and VR. Its core product lets creators customize virtual spaces, host events, curate galleries, and meet in immersive environments with simple tools and no coding required. The company reports that 80% of current users access Spatial via web and mobile (compared with 80% via headset last year) and has seen four times usage growth in just two months. Spatial supports Ethereum wallets via MetaMask today and plans to add other blockchains, pursuing an open, on-chain, interoperable metaverse where 3D spaces can be owned and shared across platforms. It will offer limited-edition, purpose-built NFT environments and is launching a Spatial NFT Genesis drop on December 15th. The company works with artists, brands, and institutions to power exhibitions, music and sports experiences, and collector meetups. Spatial builds a holographic collaboration platform that lets people meet and work together in virtual rooms using expressive avatars and shared holographic models. The app is interoperable across headsets and devices including Microsoft HoloLens, Oculus Quest, Magic Leap One, Qualcomm XR2 devices, Android/iPhone mobile devices, and basic PCs. Spatial has seen enterprise traction with inbound interest from 25% of the Fortune 1,000 and publicly named customers such as Mattel, Purina/Nestle and BNP Paribas. The company plans to expand functionality and hardware interoperability and is considering opening its technology as a platform or SDK for third parties. Leadership includes CEO and cofounder Anand Agarawala and cofounder/CPO Jinha Lee. Financially, Spatial has raised venture funding to date and is positioning itself to capitalize on new hardware and 5G-enabled low-latency infrastructure. Spatial builds an AR-based remote collaboration platform that lets users hold meetings as peer AR avatars and use a voice UI to interact within a shared three-dimensional workspace. The company uses machine learning and 3D computing to create an avatar from a single picture and synthesize it into AR. Spatial’s solutions can be used with AR headsets such as holo-lens and magic leaf or accessed via an ordinary web browser without special devices. The product enables users to build digital work environments in surrounding space for idea generation and meeting notes. Spatial is piloting its solution with Ford X, a venture incubator organization tied to a global automotive company. The founding team is led by CEO Anand Agarawala, who previously sold 3D software company Bump Technology to Google in 2010, and co-founder Lee Jin-ha, formerly a senior researcher at Samsung Electronics. Financially, the company recently received a $500,000 investment from Kakao Ventures and had earlier initial investment from Garrett Camp, Mark Pincus, and Samsung NEXT. Spatial offers a software-first, hardware-agnostic augmented reality platform focused on enterprise collaboration, combining a remote-presence experience with a suite of knowledge tools and an "infinite desktop" that uses the room as your monitor. Users can join shared AR spaces via headsets, web, or phone apps, interact with avatars of colleagues, and manipulate shared documents, websites, and images. The company partners with Microsoft HoloLens but supports other hardware and non-headset clients. Spatial is commercially piloting with a handful of companies, including Ford X, and can currently support about 15–20 people in a session with plans to scale to hundreds. The product intentionally omits a presenter mode to encourage more natural, social interactions. Spatial raised seed funding to support these enterprise-focused deployments and scaling efforts.

• Igloohome

  Participated · Equity · Jul 2019

  igloohome builds smart access solutions led by CEO Anthony Chow, offering smart locks that let users grant remote access via a mobile app and operate offline without Internet connectivity. The company also sells iglooworks, a dedicated product line for real estate and infrastructure customers, managed via a dashboard that can sort, filter and export data and monitor large numbers of access points. igloohome plans to use new funding for research and development of products and software and to support new and existing distribution partners globally, with focus on Europe, the US and Asia Pacific. It currently has over 100 distribution partners and more than 100 integration partners, and works with property developers such as Sansiri, Mitsubishi and CapitaLand. igloohome is a partner of Airbnb, HomeAway and Booking.com, and sells solutions to both consumer and enterprise customers. The company is headquartered in Singapore. igloohome designs smart access hardware and software, including the Smart Mortise Lock, Smart Deadbolt, and Smart Keybox, that let users grant access via a mobile app. Its products operate offline and do not require an Internet connection. The company says its solutions are used in over 80 countries and it has partnerships with Airbnb and HomeAway. igloohome will use the new funding to develop smart access solutions for commercial projects, with a focus on the hospitality industry and both communal and private spaces. It also plans to accelerate hiring and invest in R&D to expand its consumer product range. The company is led by CEO and co-founder Anthony Chow. Igloohome offers a mobile app that connects to its IglooAccess and IglooSense hardware to let short-term-rental hosts manage virtual keys, monitor check-ins/check-outs, log usage and reduce electricity consumption. The company is led by CEO and co-founder Anthony Chow and is a product of the Dreamit Inside accelerator. It currently operates in Australia, Thailand and Singapore and has a partnership with Airbnb to provide hosts with keyless entry capabilities. Igloohome secured seed funding to accelerate commercialization of its product. The company plans to roll out in the United States in 2016. Financially, the company completed a $1.25M seed round to fund these efforts.

No current team members are available.