Autonomous robotics delivery startup Ottonomy.IO has launched the latest version of its fully autonomous robot, Ottobot 2.0, and closed its seed funding round of US$3.3m, bringing its total funding to date to US$4.9m.
Ottobot 2.0 has been designed to be accessible, scalable and modular. The robot includes fully customizable modular cabins, increased access for customers and directional mobility, including crab mode.
Following a trial at Cincinnati International Airport (CVG) in Ohio, the company has started partnerships with multiple airports across the USA and Europe. Additionally, the robotics company has completed pilots at the Newlab 5G Studio in New York using Verizon’s 5G networks, as part of its plans to increase its capacity and deploy fleets across North America, Europe and the Middle East. Founded in late 2020 by Ritukar Vijay, Pradyot Korupolu, Ashish Gupta and Hardik Sharma, Ottonomy.IO provides fully autonomous robots for airports, curbsides and last-mile deliveries of food and beverage, retail and e-commerce packages.
The funding is intended to support the scaling of Ottobots for fully autonomous airport, retail and restaurant applications. It was led by Pi Ventures which backs deep tech startups. Connetic Ventures and Branded Hospitality Ventures and the founder and CEO of Addverb Technologies, Sangeet Kumar, also joined this round.
Roopan Aulakh, managing director from Pi Ventures, said, “Last-mile delivery is the least productive yet the most expensive part of the delivery chain. There is a strong need for automation, which Ottonomy fulfills with Ottobots. Ottobots are equipped with a sophisticated tech stack both at hardware and AI level. The founding team here brings years of multi-functional robotics experience, reflected in the world-class product that they have built and commercialized.”
Ritukar Vijay, co-founder and CEO of Ottonomy.IO, said, “The team and I have been deeply vested into autonomous driving for more than a decade. We believe fully autonomous delivery robots are not only a precursor to autonomous vehicle proliferation but are solving today’s biggest challenges like – the labor shortage; enabling staff to do more with less. Introducing Ottobot 2.0, we are bringing best-in-class maneuverability, accessibility and modularity to our fully autonomous robots; which sets us ahead of our competition.”
Kyle Schotman, co-founder and managing director of Connetic Ventures, said, “The progress we have seen from Ottonomy since our first investment is amazing and prompted us to continue supporting them as they are truly innovating curbside delivery through their revolutionary technology capabilities. Their early success in the retail channel, be that curbside delivery or gate delivery at an airport, has been promising and they are just scratching the surface of what can be achieved. We are happy to be part of such a fast-growing and innovative company and can’t wait to see what they achieve with this new round of financing.”
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