GrayMatter Robotics Raises $20M To Make Industrial Bots Smarter
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.
Gardena-based GrayMatter Robotics, an industrial robotics firm, raised a $20 million Series A round to accelerate hiring engineering and development staff for its mission of training robots to do menial factory work currently done by humans.
GrayMatter’s artificially intelligent robots and sensor networks are used to automate factory tasks the company deems too boring or ergonomically challenging for humans.
The robotic arms are suitable for a wide array of manufacturing tasks, but right now they’re mainly used for surface finishing — including the tedious task of sanding parts by hand, which is increasingly becoming a task humans are keen to let robots do. GrayMatter’s main product is Scan&Sand, and it uses smart robotics to finish and treat surfaces.
“There are about 9,000 robots compared with more than 1.5 million people involved with surface treatment in the U.S., but the latter is shrinking,” GrayMatter CEO Ariyan Kabir told trade outlet Robotics 24/7 Tuesday. “We received investment because we've developed solutions with real commercial value, we're not just building technology for the sake of building technology.”
GrayMatter and Kabir didn’t immediately return dot.LA’s request for comment. According to Pitchbook, the company has raised roughly $24 million since its 2020 launch following this funding round.
The raise was led by new investor Bow Capital. Swift Ventures, also a new investor, also joined the round. Existing investors including B Capital Group, OCA Ventures, Pasadena-based Calibrate Ventures, Los Angeles-based Stage Venture Partners, Pathbreaker Ventures, and 3M Ventures – the investing arm of manufacturing conglomerate 3M – also contributed funding.
“We are improving shop workers’ lives, enhancing their productivity, and enabling them to focus on higher-value tasks,” Kabir said in a statement Tuesday. “Manufacturing drives our economy, and without automating surface finishing and treatment, there is a significant risk the global economy may suffer due to the increasing labor shortage.”
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.