RIOS Raises $28 Million Series A

<p><strong><span class&equals;"xn-location">MENLO PARK<&sol;span> <&sol;strong>&&num;8212&semi; RIOS Intelligent Machines&comma; Inc&period;&comma; a provider of end-to-end AI-powered robotic workcells for factory automation&comma; has raised <span class&equals;"xn-money">&dollar;28 million<&sol;span> in Series A equity funding and debt financing&period; This new round of funding&comma; together with a <span class&equals;"xn-money">&dollar;5 million<&sol;span> venture round announced back in 2020&comma; raise RIOS&&num;8217&semi; total capitalization to <span class&equals;"xn-money">&dollar;33 million<&sol;span>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The oversubscribed Series A round was led by new deep tech investor Main Sequence&comma; along with new major investors Yamaha Motor Ventures&comma; Orbit Venture Partners&comma; Hypertherm Ventures&comma; and strong participation from existing investors Valley Capital Partners&comma; Morpheus Ventures&comma; Grit Ventures&comma; and others&period; Main Sequence Partner Mike Zimmerman is joining RIOS&&num;8217&semi; board of directors&comma; and Yamaha Motor Ventures COO &amp&semi; Managing Director <span class&equals;"xn-person">Anish Patel<&sol;span> has joined as a board observer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"col-sm-10 col-sm-offset-1">&NewLine;<p>RIOS helps enterprises automate their factory assembly lines&comma; warehouses or supply chain operations&comma; by deploying its AI-powered robotic workcells on the factory floor&period; Its robotic workcells are currently deployed in <span class&equals;"xn-location">the United States<&sol;span> in the manufacturing&comma; consumer packaged goods&comma; and food &amp&semi; beverage sectors&period; RIOS pioneered the robots-as-a-service &lpar;RaaS&rpar; business model for robotic workcells well before other automation providers&comma; and currently offers its robotic workforce through a factory automation-as-a-service agreement&comma; in which customers have no upfront capital commitments&period; The company has signed agreements with over a dozen customers in the U&period;S&period; and <span class&equals;"xn-location">Japan<&sol;span>&comma; from mid-size businesses to large enterprises&period; The new capital will be used to deploy its robotic fleet at scale to both new and existing customers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"col-sm-10 col-sm-offset-1">&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Bedrock sectors of our economy are crippled by a labor shortage problem that Covid turned into a full-blown crisis&period; Today&comma; most factories in the world are labor-intensive&comma; and with millions of jobs unfilled&comma; manufacturers are unable to keep up with skyrocketing consumer demand – and they are in extreme pain&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Dr&period; <span class&equals;"xn-person">Bernard Casse<&sol;span>&comma; RIOS&&num;8217&semi; CEO&period; &&num;8220&semi;We have the cure to this trillion-dollar opportunity&period; We&&num;8217&semi;re re-industrializing America with best-in-class American technology&comma; while upskilling our American workforce in the process and enabling them to access higher-level and better-paying jobs&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>RIOS focuses on the last frontier of automation in factories&comma; in which traditional automation breaks down&period; It has built a new breed of robots possessing unparalleled levels of dexterity&comma; cognitive skills and autonomy&comma; which are geared up to tackle hard-to-automate tasks in unstructured environments&period; Today&comma; the company has engineered some of the most sophisticated hardware and software&sol;AI platforms in the robotics space&comma; which includes human-like tactile sensors for robots&comma; haptics intelligence platform&comma; and highest performance end-of-arm tooling&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;