The Sherpa robotic is designed to maneuver trolleys in manufacturing logistics, meeting traces, and warehouses. | Supply: Ati Motors
Ati Motors yesterday mentioned it has closed a $20 million Sequence B funding spherical. The autonomous cellular robotic, or AMR, supplier mentioned the capital will allow it to speed up the event of its robotic workforce.
“Since our founding, Ati Motors’ mission has been to create superior, dependable merchandise that improve each productiveness and effectivity in industrial settings,” said Saurabh Chandra, founder and CEO of Ati Motors.
“This funding will speed up our skill to leverage our intensive real-world dataset to develop next-generation AI fashions and additional advance our industrial autonomy platform,” he added. “The fast progress we’re experiencing validates our method of specializing in manufacturing as a vertical and conceptualizing these robots as purpose-built self-driving automobiles.”
Sherpa robots mark robust progress
Whereas producers all over the world are fascinated with adopting automation for boring, soiled, and harmful duties, they’re constrained by the provision of robots that may carry out in addition to individuals in real-world eventualities, mentioned Ati Motors.
The firm mentioned its AMRs ship “industry-leading uptime” and may help prospects enhance productiveness in dynamic and complicated manufacturing environments. Ati’s product vary contains tugs, bin movers, pallet movers, and lifting platforms.
The flagship Sherpa Tug, which options 3D navigation and out of doors capabilities, has logged over 500,000 km (310,685.5 mi.) throughout 50+ factories, the corporate famous. It has deployed a whole lot of its Sherpa robots throughout 40 main producers, 30% of that are Fortune 500 firms. These embrace Forvia and Hyundai, which have a number of scaled deployments in North America.
The funding got here on the heels of a profitable finish to 2024. Ati Motors mentioned it tripled its order e book in This fall of 2024, including 9 industry-leading purchasers. Serving world leaders within the automotive, home equipment, aerospace, and electronics sectors, the corporate has secured over $37 million in funding up to now.
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Inside Ati Motors’ plans for the funding
Walden Catalyst Ventures (WCV) and NGP Capital (NGP) led Ati Motors’ Sequence B spherical. It additionally included participation from present buyers, together with True Ventures, Exfinity Enterprise Companions, Athera Enterprise Companions, and Blume Ventures.
“Ati Motors represents the way forward for industrial automation,” mentioned Shankar Chandran, a companion at Walden Catalyst Ventures. “Their distinctive mixture of superior AI capabilities and robotics, together with a deep understanding of producing environments, positions them completely to guide the following wave of business automation. The spectacular progress they’ve achieved validates their method and demonstrates the robust market demand for his or her options.”
Ati mentioned it’ll use the funding to speed up product growth, develop its market presence in North America and Asia-Pacific (APAC), and strengthen its place as a number one supplier of business automation on the intersection of synthetic intelligence and robotics.
The corporate lately established operations in Mexico and strengthened its presence within the U.S., India, and Southeast Asia. It is usually at present increasing its North American headquarters to Detroit, Mich.
“We’re excited to co-lead this funding in Ati Motors,” mentioned Upal Basu at NGP Capital. “The corporate’s skill to efficiently deploy absolutely autonomous cellular robots throughout various industrial environments, mixed with their quickly rising buyer base, makes them a standout within the industrial automation area. We consider their distinctive method to combining edge AI, lidar, and robotics will assist handle a important want within the manufacturing sector.”
