Portfolio Update: Raise Robotics Nets $7.75M in Seed Funding to Build Out Multipurpose Robot Platform
TL;DR
Raise Robotics raised $7.75M in seed funding to scale its multipurpose robotic platform designed for construction sites. Their robot performs tasks like drilling and bolting on steel structures, reducing human risk and increasing precision. The system is mobile, adaptable to real-world site conditions, and aims to address labor shortages and safety issues in construction.
Jeff Yoders
Full Update
Raise Robotics, developer of the Raise Robotics construction platform, announced July 30 a $7.75-million seed funding round led by MaC Venture Capital with participation from Undivided Ventures and existing investors Cybernetix Ventures, Zacua Ventures, and Union Labs.
The funding coincides with the completion of curtainwall layout for over 10,000 glass panels at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., With this latest round, Raise has raised a total of $11.8 million.
Raise is known mostly for the robotic platform that can perform several high-risk activities on a construction site, which evolved from a robot originally used on slab edges to install brackets for facade panels in mid- to high-rise structures. Today, Raise's robotic platform can perform several high-risk activities such as laser measurement near edges, using of a hammer drill for penetrations in the same areas and even layout before it is safe for humans to ascend to a just-completed floor.
"Right now, our plan is to just continue working with our existing customers and make sure we're getting more robots out in the field," said Raise Robotics CEO and co-founder Gary Chen. "We want to make sure that they see value in using our machines on their projects. That's the main goal with the funding."
Chen added that the funding also will enable work on a new version of the robot, so it will be "not only usable in its current applications on firm ground, but also so it can be modular, [and] we can drop it onto a scissor lift or a boom lift and be able to reach other areas on the site."
The CEO and Raise co-founder Conley Oster started the firm in 2021, joining their experiences in construction and technology. Chen was a veteran of Waymo and other robotics startups and Oster had vast construction experience including as a technical project manager at Bigge Crane and Rigging Co. in San Francisco.
Oster said solving multiple risk or pain point problems on a construction site will continue to be the robotics platform's focus. "It's a key differentiator for us, the multi-tool capabilities." he said. "The current tools we support include a torque driver, a hammer drill attachment, a layout tool and a surface profiler, but we plan to continue expanding applications just as the customers drive them our way. It's definitely been a very loud message over the last year,"
Oster said as contractors have started adopting more robots, Raise is reviewing them very similarly to other pieces of equipment, through uptime metrics. "Multipurpose robots provide a very good story around uptime," he said.
