Robotics investments drive past $2.1B in May

Robotics investments for May 2024 topped $2.1 billion, the result of funding for 38 companies. The $2.1 billion is the highest monthly funding amount for the year 2024 and greatly exceeds the trailing 12-month average of $1.2 billion. Robotics funding through May 2024 totals approximately $5.7 billion.

The two largest robotics investments were raised by autonomous driving companies. UK-based Wayve raised a $1 billion Series C, while Massachusetts-based Motional raised $475 million from Hyundai. Motional’s funding came just weeks after partner Aptiv cut off financial support after incurring millions of dollars in losses.

Drone companies also attracted substantial investments in May 2024. Aerodome, a developer of a drone-based data acquisition and analysis system for emergency response operations, attracted $21.5 million in Series A funding. Neros Technologies, a provider of autonomous drones and services for defense operations, and SwissDrones, a developer of unmanned helicopter systems for aerial missions beyond visual line of sight, raised $10.9 million (Seed) and $10 million (Series B), respectively.

Unlike previous months, companies located in the U.S. and China did not receive the largest funding amounts. The UK, as a result of Wayve’s outsized $1 billion round led the way in May 2024. Companies based in the U.S. and China received $852 and $138 million in investment, respectively. More typically, companies based in the U.S. (13) and China (8) received the majority of the rounds in May.

Two Series C rounds contributed $1.1 billion to May’s total of $2.1 billion. The remaining funding classes were all represented in May 2024.

Editor’s Note
What defines robotics investments? The answer to this question is central in any attempt to quantify them with some degree of rigor. To make investment analyses consistent, repeatable, and valuable, it is critical to wring out as much subjectivity as possible during the evaluation process. This begins with a definition of terms and a description of assumptions.

Investments
Robotics investments should come from venture capital firms, corporate investment groups, angel investors, and other sources. Friends-and-family investments, government/non-governmental agency grants, and crowdsourced funding are excluded.

Robotics Companies
Robotics companies must generate or expect to generate revenue from the production of robotics products (that sense, analyze, and act in the physical world), hardware or software subsystems and enabling technologies for robots, or services supporting robotics devices. For this analysis, autonomous vehicles (including technologies that support autonomous driving) and drones are considered robots, while 3D printers, CNC systems, and various types of “hard” automation are not.

Companies that are “robotic” in name only, or use the term “robot” to describe products and services that do not enable or support devices acting in the physical world, are excluded. For example, this includes “software robots” and robotic process automation. Many firms have multiple locations in different countries. Company locations given in the analysis are based on the publicly listed headquarters in legal documents, press releases, etc.

Verification
Funding information is collected from several public and private sources. These include press releases from corporations and investment groups, corporate briefings, market research firms, and association and industry publications. In addition, information comes from sessions at conferences and seminars, as well as during private interviews with industry representatives, investors, and others. Unverifiable investments are excluded and estimates are made where investment amounts are not provided or are unclear.

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