Neura Robotics, an emerging AI and robotics startup, has picked up a $55 million funding in a round led by European investors Lingotto (an investment management company owned by Exor N.V.), Vsquared Ventures (that backed QOmented, cylib and Isar Aerospace), Primepulse and HV Capital.
The investment will help in Neura Robotics’ expansion in the US and Japan. It will also help expand the production infrastructure in Germany to meet the exponential demand of the order book, which today exceeds $450 million.
David Reger, Founder and CEO of Neura Robotics, said: “Since our genesis in 2019, Neura Robotics has been working to push the boundaries of innovation in robotics by rethinking the subject with artificial intelligence and a platform approach, ushering in a new era in robotics. Today’s funding round enables us to keep up the pace in delivering on our visionary promises.“
“Neura operates at the confluence of AI and hardware development. Germany and Europe have a particular advantage here”, said Nikhil Srinivasan, Managing Partner at Lingotto.
Dr Herbert Mangesius, General Partner at Vsquared Ventures, added: “If you are serious about software, you need to embrace hardware. This is particularly true for robotic automation and has been a bottleneck in bringing cutting-edge machine learning and cognitive capabilities into the industrial and services world for many years. Neura Robotics is the first company we met that combines this technological vision and leadership with an open partnership model and such driving progress globally at a never-seen pace within robotics.”
Cognitive robots that can see and hear
Neura Robotics was founded in 2019 by David Reger in Metzingen, Germany. It is touted to be the first company to combine AI and robotics. Neura has unveiled the world’s first market-ready cognitive robot called MAiRA.
Robots based on the Neura Robotics platform can see, hear and have a sense of touch. Combined with reflexive sensory processing, these capabilities are essential for autonomous and predictive action. These robots by Neura Robotics are being developed to collaborate with humans across various societal domains and within human-designed environments. In a couple of years, these robots could play an important role in solving the problem of the general shortage of skilled workers.
The NEURAverse platform
This robot can fully perceive its environment and people and act autonomously. By combining all relevant sensors and components with artificial intelligence in one device, Neura Robotics offers its partners a platform for the joint development of applications for a wide range of sectors from industry to service and household. The resulting and steadily growing NEURAverse offers unmatched flexibility and cost efficiency in automation.
Kawasaki, the third-largest robotics manufacturer worldwide by revenue, has recently unveiled a product range “powered by NEURA.“ All the new technological components required for this approach, including AI, are developed in-house by Neura Robotics. This made it possible to set new standards in intelligence, precision, and safety.
