Factbox-Investors are betting on rent-a-robot startups in Silicon Valley 

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FILE PHOTO: A 6-axis robotic arm picks up sorting containers at the Amazon fulfillment center in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., April 30, 2019. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A 6-axis robotic arm picks up sorting containers at the Amazon fulfillment center in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., April 30, 2019. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo

By Jane Lanhee Lee

(Reuters) - Silicon Valley has a new pitch for small U.S. manufacturers struggling with hiring workers but wary of the high costs of high tech: rent-a-robot. Much of the initial risk and cost are taken on by the robot companies.

Here are some rent-a-robot startups and the investors backing them. (Source: PitchBook and the companies)

Locus Robotics

www.locusrobotics.com

-Producer of autonomous mobile robots for warehouses.

-Raised $150 million in February in a funding round led by Tiger Global Management and BOND Capital

-Other investors include Prologis Ventures, Zebra Ventures, Scale Venture Partners

Path Robotics

www.path-robotics.com

-Manufacturer of autonomous welding robots

-Raised $100 million in July in a funding round led by Tiger Global Management.

-Other investors include Addition, SVB Capital, Basic Set Ventures, Comeback Capital, Creative Ventures, Drive Capital, Eudaimonia Capital, Lemnos, Xplorer Capital

Rapid Robotics

www.rapidrobotics.com

-Machine-operating robots offered as low as $2,100 a month

-Raised $36.7 million in August in funding round led by Kleiner Perkins and Tiger Global Management

-Other investors include New Enterprise Associates, 468 Capital, Bee Partners, Draft Ventures, Greycroft

Fetch Robotics

www.fetchrobotics.com

-Maker of self-driving robots for warehouses and factories

-Previously backed by SoftBank, the startup was acquired by Nasdaq-listed Zebra Technologies Corp.

Vicarious 

www.vicarious.com

-An artificial intelligence startup that is using AI to power machine arms in factories and started its subscription model in 2019

-Investors include Pegasus Tech Ventures, Samsung Venture Investment, ABB Technology Ventures, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.

Formic Technologies

www.formic.co

-A startup offering “robots by the hour,” which charges only for the time the robot is working. Handles setup and maintenance.

-Investors include Initialized Capital, Lux Capital, Correlation Ventures, Chapter One, and Lorimer Ventures.

(Reporting by Jane Lanhee Lee in Oakland, Calif.; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

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Reuters