London-based robotics company Automata has raised €6.5 million in Series A funding in tandem with the launch of its new product Eva – a portable, six axis robotic arm that helps manufacturers to streamline production and can be programmed in just 15 minutes. Now available to order from the Automata website for £4,990, Eva is specially designed to be lightweight, user-friendly and accessible, while maintaining industrial quality performance.
“Mostafa and I started Automata to democratise robotics and to ultimately allow anyone to seamlessly use a robot,” said Suryansh Chandra, co-founder of Automata. “We are extremely proud to offer Eva at the price point we do. People can visit the Automata website and buy a piece of industrial quality equipment on their credit card – it doesn’t get much more accessible than that. This recent funding allows us to bring Eva to an increased number of businesses across multiple sectors.”
The Series A round was led by Hummingbird Ventures, with firstminute Capital, Hardware Club and previous investors including LocalGlobe, ABB, and Entrepreneur First participating. The funding is being used to continue the expansion of their growing team of 42, as well as supporting the increased production of Eva.
“Suryansh and Mostafa bring a visionary perspective to robotics and an endearing determination to turn the traditional manufacturing model on its head by fostering a new dimension of productivity, whilst simultaneously lowering the costs for developed and high-labour cost countries,” said Barend Van den Brande, Founding Partner at Hummingbird Ventures.
Produced by leading UK robotics manufacturer Tharsus, Eva can be used by anyone – whether it be factory workers and manufacturing engineers at SMEs, or those at bigger operations driven to improve productivity by enabling menial tasks to be automated. Early customers have used Eva in various capacities, from testing touch screen functionality in automobile dashboards, to loading and unloading parts into production lines.
“Automata is a company making fundamental changes in the robotics space,” said Robin Klein, co-founder and General Partner at LocalGlobe. “By offering an industrial quality, lightweight robot capable of being set up and operational in a matter of hours, Automata is encouraging businesses to embrace automation like never before.”
