Leading robotics VCs talk about where they’re investing – TechCrunch

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Leading robotics VCs talk about where they’re investing
Shahin Farshchi, Lux Capital
Kelly Chen, DCVC
Rob Coneybeer, Shasta Ventures

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Despite the old saying, “hardware is hard,” investment in the robotics space continues to expand.
Money is pouring in across robotics’ billion-dollar sub verticals, including industrial and labor automation, drone delivery, machine vision and a wide range of others.

According to data from Pitchbook and Crunchbase, 2018 saw new highs for the number of venture deals and total invested capital in the space, with roughly $5 billion in investment coming from nearly 400 deals

With robotics well on its way to again set new investment peaks in 2019, we asked 13 leading VCs who work at firms spanning early to growth stages to share what’s exciting them most and where they see opportunity in the sector:
Participants discuss the compelling business models for robotics startups (such as “Robots as a Service”), current valuations, growth tactics and key robotics KPIs, while also diving into key trends in industrial automation, human replacement, transportation, climate change, and the evolving regulatory environment.
Which trends are you most excited in robotics from an investing perspective?
How much time are you spending on robotics right now?
The market for robot startups attempting direct human labor replacement, floor-sweeping, and dumb-waiter robots, and robotic lawnmowers and vacuums is OVER heated (too many startups).
The market for robot startups that assist human workers, increase human productivity, and automate undesirable human tasks is UNDER heated (not enough startups).
I want to see more founders that are building robotics startups that: Solve LATENT pain points in specific, well-understood industries (vs.
building a cool robot that can do cool things).
emphasizing cool robots).
Robotic companies we find most exciting today are addressing key driver areas of (1) high labor turnover and shortage and (2) new research around generalization on the software side

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