Clearpath Robotics raises $30M to expand indoor self-driving vehicle market
October 28, 2016
By Manufacturing AUTOMATION
Oct. 27, 2016 – Clearpath Robotics, a provider of self-driving vehicle solutions, announced a US$30 million funding round, led by iNovia Capital with participation from Caterpillar Ventures, GE Ventures, Eclipse Ventures, RRE Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank.
The investment will be used to grow the company’s industrial division, OTTO Motors, which launched last year to focus on self-driving vehicles for material transport inside manufacturing and warehouse operations, says Clearpath.
“Factories operate like small indoor cities, complete with roads, traffic, intersections and pedestrians,” said Matt Rendall, CEO and co-founder of Clearpath. “Unlike city streets, a factory floor is a controlled environment, which makes it an ideal place to introduce self-driving vehicles at scale. The market for self-driving passenger vehicles will be over $80 billion by 2030. We believe the market for self-driving materials handling vehicles will be equally significant.”
“Self-driving vehicles are already revolutionizing transportation,” added Karam Nijjar, partner at iNovia Capital. “Clearpath isn’t just building the factory of the future; they are laying the foundation for entirely new business models enabled by artificial intelligence, autonomy and automation.”
Clearpath previously raised US$11.2 million in a January 2015 Series A round led by RRE Ventures with participation from iNovia Capital, GE Ventures and Eclipse Ventures to develop the OTTO product line.
