The round of financing was directed by pi Ventures, and included the participation of Kinetic ventures as well as Branded Hospitality Ventures
Ottonomy will utilize the funds to enhance partnerships and focus more on customer satisfaction
Ottonomy develops fleets of autonomous robots mostly geared towards delivery via contactless technology
A mobile startup that is autonomous Ottonomy is raising $3.3 Million in seed round of funding that was led by pi Ventures. The round also included involvement from Connetic Ventures, Branded Hospitality Ventures and Addverb Technologies’ Sangeet Kumar.
The round also had involvement from other angel investors across all of the US, India, Singapore, Middle-East and Europe.
The startup plans to use the funds to expand production and expand its presence across North America, Europe and the Middle East. The company will also use the funds to boost hiring in the key sectors in India as well as the US.
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The company was established in the year 2020 by Ritukar Vijay, Ashish Gupta, Hardik Sharma and Pradyot KVN. Ottonomy creates autonomous robot fleets that are primarily aimed at delivery by contactless. The company last secured a pre-seeding round of $1.5 Million.
The company’s product, Ottobots, creates a digital map of the area that is serviceable and then navigates the region autonomously to make the deliveries. The company uses its own mobile navigation software for contextual mobility in Ottobot to allow it to work in crowded and unpredictable environments.
The Lockdown Baby
In an interview with Business Headers Ottonomy CEO Vijay mentioned that his experience working in the autonomous robotics field was a benefit while working on the company’s start-up.
Being as part of an industry, we realized that autonomous technologies could solve real-world problems. This problem was uncovered through last-mile deliveries , which are the most costly part in the chain of supply Vijay said.
The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the labor shortages and that’s when the team began to create the concept, he added.
Vijay claimed that the founders designed the initial prototypes in their guest rooms. The first minimally viable product was created in the lockdowns.
Ottonomy ran the test run with Snapdeal at the end of December of 2020 and then rolled out the product on Cincinnati International Airport. Cincinnati International Airport.
The company’s goal is to install its robots at airports, within the ecommerce industry as well as in food and beverage (F&B) establishments. The robots have been used in several countries, which include those of the US, Canada, Europe as well as other countries, Vijay said.
After a customer has placed an order for food on the internet, the restaurant is able to take the food to the machine and then it can deliver the food through many gates. Customers is able to use the QR codes displayed on the robot in order to receive the food, the CEO stated.
Ottobots come with the most advanced technology stack at both the both the AI and hardware levels. The team that founded the company has years of experience in multi-functional robotics which is evident in the top-of-the-line product that they’ve built and commercialized. We’re very happy to be making our first robotics investment and could not have asked for a better partner to work with said the pi Ventures’ managing director pi Ventures Roopan Aulakh.
The Focus Is on Break-Even
The company claims to provide Robot-as a Service (RaaS) which makes its products available to customers through an annual subscription basis.
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Vijay said to Business Headers that Ottonomy sign a 24 month contract with businesses to use its robots. The company offers standardised robots with’multiple applications’, however customized versions are available in certain instances, like the requirement for transport of perishable products.
The CEO has refused to reveal the clients of the startup, aside of Cincinnati Airport. Vijay added that the startup is engaged in talks with the largest retailer in the US and is scheduled to launch in the international airport of Europe.
Many of the deeptech startups are plagued by a variety of problems, which include the high cost of capital and the shortage of semiconductors. But, Vijay tried to alleviate these issues.
Our hypothesis is in the area where we are able to break even fairly quickly, depending on any savings in costs we can achieve. Our goal is to make sure that we’re not creating more robots than we need, he said.
In relation to the shortage of semiconductors, he noted the company Ottonomy has multiple suppliers across the globe that help reduce the risk to supply chains.
He also stated that the startup doesn’t want to offer for sale or commercialize the data gathered from various sources and is in compliance with privacy and local data laws.
According to a report on the market for robotics technology worldwide was estimated at $62.75 Bn in 2019, and is expected to grow up to $189.36 Bn by 2027 at an annual compounded growth of (CAGR) that is 13.5 percent between 2020 to 2027.
Business Headers estimates that approximately $1.6 Billion was poured into the Indian deeptech industry between 2014 and 2020.
