GlobalData Predicts Future Robotics Unicorns

Cloud and Metaverse Among Top Themes Driving TMT M&A Activity in Q1 2022 | GlobalData Plc

Right from healthcare, customer service, security patrols, and education & entertainment, startups are offering robotics-enabled solutions ranging from last mile delivery to industrial automation. Against this backdrop, the Unicorn Prediction Model of GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, has released a list of 50 roboticsĀ startups that have the potential to become unicorns (valuation > US$1bn).

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Apoorva Bajaj, Practice Head of Financial Markets at GlobalData, says: ā€œAdvances in AI have enabled the development of robots, allowing them to become highly complex products rather than being the stand-alone, fixed-function machines they used to be. With the expansion of the roles that robots can perform, deep-pocketed venture capital (VC) firms are attracted to invest in the high-growth opportunity. VC funding has been gradually shifting towards early and growth stage startups in recent quarters with funding for seed stage startups declining.ā€

GlobalDataā€™s recent report,Ā Future Robotics Unicorns ā€“ 09 September 2021, reveals the fact that the although the volume of VC funding has slowed down in recent quarters, but investments in value terms has increased in 2021, showing a sudden spike in Q2 2021 with investment in excess of US$ 6.5bn spanning 177 deals globally. In Q2 2021, Asia-Pacific accounted for over 44% of VC deal volume valued at a total of US$ 2.7bn, followed by North America (primarily the US.) accounting for 31% of the total deal volume.

In terms of social media discussions, ā€˜roboticsā€™ and its use cases in automotive, agriculture, healthcare and other sectors are increasingly being mentioned by social media influencers. Tesla announcing its plan to build a humanoid robot (Optimus) to Hyundai buying controlling stake in Boston Dynamics are some of the recent trending robotics discussions on social media platforms.

Some of the robotics startups in GlobalDataā€™s list of potential unicorns include Gecko Robotics, Covariant, Superpedestrian, and Sphero.

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Gecko Robotics builds and operates robots to automate infrastructure inspections across power, gas, oil, and manufacturing industries. Geckoā€™s software portal allows clients to review all their assets in 3D, ensuring a holistic view of the equipment and prioritizing areas that needs urgent attention.

Covariant designed a universal AI to enable robots to see, reason, and act in the real world. Based on research in deep imitation learning, deep reinforcement learning and meta-learning, the company has built Covariant Brain, a universal AI for robots that can be applied to any use case or customer environment.

Superpedestrian is a US-based transportation robotics company that develops technologies for micro-electric vehicles to optimize safety, reliability, and performance. Recently, it acquired micromobility-safety startup Navmatic and launched an active safety system, Pedestrian Defense.

Sphero builds smartphone-controlled robots by combining robotic and digital technology into immersive entertainment experiences. Sphero robots allow kids to learn fundamental STEM concepts through play-based learning and educational STEAM activities.

Mr. Bajaj concludes, ā€œWhile innovation in robotics is entering into a stabilization phase as evident by declining deal volumes and patents activity, but its adoption is increasing as corroborated by more number of mentions of ā€˜roboticsā€™ in corporate filings and continued increase in active job counts across industries including TMT, healthcare, industrials and retail.ā€

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