The Indian deeptech sector is gradually expanding, according to a NASSCOM report, with the number of startups leveraging the segment increasing by 3.5X since 2017. Additionally, investors’ interest in deeptech has risen, as evidenced by a 2X increase in funding raised by deeptech startups.
CynLr, a deep-tech startup based in Bengaluru that is fundamentally re-inventing a dynamic vision-enabled robot to enable future “universal factories,” has raised $ 4.5M in funding. The Visual-Robot Platform frees manufacturing – from electronics to automotive to consumer goods and warehouses – from the agony of machinery customization. CynLr’s Visual-Robots or Object Computers are designed to ‘simplify’ manufacturing in the same way that computers did data processing.
Anicut Capital, Infoedge, Java Capital, Venture Catalysts, and Arali Ventures were among the investors in the round. Srivats Ram (MD, Wheels India), Shriram Vijayaraghavan (President, Wheels India), Arvind Vasu (former Asia Head, ABB Technology Ventures), Nalin Advani (former CEO, GreyOrange Robotics), and Jayaram Pillai (former MD – India, Russia, Arabia, NI) are among the angel investors.
CynLr claims to have raised a total funding of $5.25M funding till date with this round.
Fund Utilisation
The robotics startup intends to enter the US market, grow its team, and expand capacity to meet the current customer pipeline and deliver 100 robots per year.
Nikhil Ramaswamy and Gokul NA founded CynLr in 2019 to automate the manual labour involved in manufacturing processes. The company wants to make manufacturing easier with its visual robots or object computers, similar to how computers made data processing easier.
“CynLr’s Machine Vision and Intelligence stack enables companies to construct factories using universal LEGO-like Robotic Units rather than complex custom machinery.” With little to no pre-training, CynLr’s visual robots can pick up any object of any size, shape, weight, or material, regardless of orientation or location. This is the first step toward creating Universal Factories, which are factories that are so standardised that any product – from cars to phones to probably even your food – can be manufactured under one roof and delivered at the touch of a button,” said Nikhil Ramaswamy, Co-founder and CEO of CynLr.
“Computers’ universalization of data processing transformed data into the new oil.” Everything we consume, however, is physical – from food to water to air to gadgets. Manufacturing (Object Processing) has yet to experience the data revolution, which is being held back by one factor: custom machinery. Human Vision and Hands are the only universal solution we have for adapting to unforeseen changes in manufacturing objects. By looking at how Intelligence and Vision evolved in animals over a billion years, CynLr fills a void in current AI and ML. “We believe that Objects will become the new Data,” says N A Gokul, founder of CynLr.
Previous Funding
CynLr raised INR 5.5 crore in a seed funding round in 2019. Speciale Invest, Arali Ventures, growX Ventures, CIIE Initiatives, and Dr. Vijay Kedia all contributed to the funding. The funds were then used for product research and development as well as to increase product adoption.
CynLr competes with other startups like Addverb Technologies, Haber and others.
CynLr was also a part of an accelerator programme led by India DeepTech in April 2021. (IDT). The accelerator programme assisted its cohort members in receiving validation for their business ideas and gaining a better understanding of the market. It did not, however, provide any equity or grants to the cohort members.
