BotsAndUs, a London-based startup that provides full-stack robot systems for public spaces, has closed a £2 million equity funding round with legal advice provided by the corporate team at Newcastle based Mincoffs Solicitors.
Andrei Danescu, Adrian Negoita and Oana Jinga founded the company in 2015 with the vision of robot-human collaboration. The team has created robots that work alongside people in places such as large retail stores, shopping centres, office buildings and airports. Customers include MediaMarktSaturn, dnata, Heathrow Airport and British Airways. In addition to taking care of repetitive tasks, the robots provide round-the-clock customer service and on-site data collection and analysis.
The company secured its first institutional funding round during the coronavirus pandemic amid an increase in demand and enquiries for its service and was led by Kindred Capital and Capnamic Ventures, with participation from angel investors from the UK and the US. The company was also previously awarded funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme as well as Innovate UK.
With the new funding, BotsAndUs will grow the team, accelerate robot deployments and explore new products and services, in response to a recent surge in demand for automation. Specifically, the startup wants to develop automation solutions for indoor, dynamic spaces. These are unstructured environments where people traffic and excessive noise normally create challenges for autonomous robots.
Andrei Danescu, CEO at BotsAndUs, commented: “We are in a great position to accelerate achieving our mission and liberate businesses from dull, repetitive and now even dangerous work, so their employees can focus on the things that bring the most value. We are thrilled to have such trusted and experienced investors join our cause and support the next stage of our growth. The demand for automation and robotics has seen a significant raise driven by the current global events and we’re in the best position to respond to it.”
Corporate partner at Mincoffs Solicitors John Nicholson acted on behalf of BotsAndUs, assisted by solicitor Daniel Bell. John commented “We have acted for BotsAndUs since 2017. They are developing interesting and unique products. It has been a pleasure to watch them grow the company with such success. We wish them well with their exciting plans.”
Russell Buckley, Partner at Kindred Capital said, “We’ve been following BotsAndUs’ progress over the past few years and have been very impressed with the founders’ ambition, innovative approach and ability to build a fantastic team around their mission. Their pioneering robotics and AI products are at the forefront of a much needed next wave of automation – bringing robots out of factories and warehouses so they can make an impact on businesses operating in a variety of indoor, crowded, public spaces.
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