Clobotics, a global leader in intelligent computer vision solutions for the wind power and retail industries, recently announced it has closed an additional $11 million in funding in a continuation of its Series A round of financing. Venture capital raised in this round now totals $21 million. New investors include Nantian Infotech VC and Wangsu Company, joining previous investments from KTB Network, GGV Capital, and Capital Development Investment Fund Management Co., Ltd. With the new capital, Clobotics will continue to expand its business in North America to further penetrate the wind-power and retail industries. The company will also invest in ongoing product development and continue to build its growing team of experts in computer vision, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning.
Founded by former Microsoft executives, Clobotics’ solutions combine hardware, software, and emerging technologies such as computer vision, AI, machine learning, and data analytics to help companies in the wind-energy and retail sectors automate operational processes that have traditionally required time-intensive, manual labor. With unprecedented access to real-time data and analytics, Clobotics’ customers make intelligent decisions that improve business processes and significantly increase revenue. This new funding commitment builds on the rapid momentum Clobotics has established over the past 21 months, during which time it has landed dozens of international customers and hired nearly 100 employees in its Seattle and Shanghai headquarters and offices throughout Asia.
“Clobotics’ ability to commercialize AI by integrating it with computer vision and industrial deployments to solve operational challenges in wind power and retail is unprecedented for a startup,” said Chengyan Liu, president and chairman of the board of Wangsu Company. “With innovative technology, a leadership team of experienced technology executives and rapid customer growth, Clobotics has already demonstrated a strong track record in a relatively short amount of time. Our investment in Clobotics demonstrates our belief in the company’s potential to drive future digital transformation within the wind and retail industries.”
In the wind-power industry, Clobotics is the only company to provide an end-to-end solution combining autonomous drone hardware with built-in computer vision, artificial intelligence, and data analytics software for automated wind-turbine inspections. Using Clobotics Smart Wind solution, autonomous drones take high resolution photos to identify damaged or weakened components as small as one millimeter by three millimeters. Clobotics’ AI engine parses its massive real-world dataset that includes fully-functional and minutely-damaged turbines and shares real-time telemetry to its customer cloud portal, completing an inspection in minutes rather than days.
In the retail sector, Clobotics’ Smart Retail solution recognizes assortments, displays, and SKUs to generate insightful reports in real time. Consumer package goods (CPG) brands and brick-and-mortar retailers quickly improve profitability and sales execution with a fraction of the workforce and time that traditional methods require. One of North America’s largest bottlers for a leading global soft drink brand is using Clobotics’ solution to help increase sales in more than 10,000 retail store locations in the U.S., after successful deployments throughout Asia.
“In less than two years since our founding, Clobotics has attracted top global brands as customers by pioneering new processes that combine artificial intelligence and computer vision with our own smart hardware capabilities and expertise in the wind and retail industries,” said George Yan, chief executive officer of Clobotics. “Our investors have a reputation for spotting and investing in successful international technology companies, and we are pleased they recognize this potential in Clobotics.”
With dual headquarters in the U.S. and China, Clobotics solutions are fueled by an international research and development team of rare engineering power. The international team benefits from a staff in which a quarter hold a Doctorate degree and from world-renowned experts in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computer vision that serve as technical advisers. As a direct result of this expertise, Clobotics has filed more than 30 patents to-date.
More info www.clobotics.com
