Invert Robotics, a New Zealand-based inspection robotics company, closed an US$8.8m financing round.
The round was led by Finistere Ventures, with participation from Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley (YMVSV), and existing investors Allan Moss, Inception Asset Management and the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund. In conjunction with the funding, Dean Tilyard, CEO of The Factory and Finistere Venture Partner for the Oceania region, will join the Invert Robotics Board. Finistere’s Kukutai and Yamaha’s Boshier will also join as Observers.
The company intends to use the funds to:
– scale the team,
– open a U.S. office and
– expand its technology platform and industry-specific solutions.
A spin-out from the University of Canterbury’s School of Engineering in New Zealand, Invert Robotics has developed a robot offering precise, remote inspection of non-magnetic surfaces such as stainless steel, carbon fiber, aluminum and glass.
It is already used by some of the world’s largest food and beverage, dairy, aviation, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, and chemical companies.
The robots can securely adhere to surfaces that other robots cannot and go into confined, treacherous spaces that would put workers’ lives at risk. Going beyond visual inspections, its robots can perform in-depth scans using surface-wave detection and ultrasonic probes to measure wall thickness, assess structural integrity and find defects on any surface.
Headquartered in New Zealand with offices throughout Europe, the company will also build out an artificial intelligence platform that will allow customers to take a proactive approach to asset management by predicting potential fail points and future maintenance needs.
It is led by Neil Fletcher, Managing Director.
FinSMEs
03/05/2019