Corvallis startup Agility Robotics raised $150 million from investors to boost the development and adoption of its robot Digit.
The round was led by DCVC and Playground Global. It also included new investor Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund. California-based DCVC led the company’s last round, $20 million in 2020, and Playground Global has been in the company since 2018.
The company will use the money to open an office in Pittsburgh, a city rich with robotics talent and research, as well as expand its offices in Corvallis and Palo Alto. It will also fund further research and scale robot production.
“Unprecedented consumer and corporate demand have created an extraordinary need for robots to support people in the workplace,” said Damion Shelton, CEO of Agility Robotics, in a written statement. “With this investment, Agility can ramp up the delivery of robots to fill roles where there’s an unmet need.”
Shelton is based in Pittsburgh. He and co-founder Jonathan Hurst both attended Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University for advanced degrees in robotics. Hurst co-founded the Oregon State University robotics program and he led the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory and its research.
Agility makes robots that move more like humans with two-legged walking. It is based on more than 15 years of research studying how animals and humans move. Its Digit robot has perception and can map routes to walk and can lift and move objects.
The company envisions the robots used in workplaces such as warehouses where it can augment a human workforce by taking over certain tasks and freeing up humans for different work.
Noting workforce shortages for warehouse and logistics workers as well as repetitive injuries, Hurst said there is market demand for the product.
“To solve this complex labor puzzle, robots are needed to lift the burden of hard, manual labor, provide workforce flexibility, and enable people to do work that requires creativity and judgment — inherently human traits,” Hurst, who is also chief technology officer, wrote in a blog post.
The company touts Digit’s flexibility as a key differentiator, arguing that other robotic technologies are too purpose-built and inflexible becoming obsolete quickly.
“We’re deepening our investment in Agility Robotics because their robots solve the labor shortages plaguing businesses and wreaking havoc on supply chains,” said Matt Ocko, co-managing partner with DCVC, in a written statement. “Agility’s robots are designed to free people from repetitive or unpleasant tasks, allowing them to take on the more fulfilling work they can do better than any robot.”
The company’s first products shipped to customers in 2018, many of which were other universities for research. The company’s most advanced products will ship to customers later this year, according to a news release.
Other backers in this round are existing investors: MFV Partners, ITIC, Robotics Hub, Safar Partners, and TDK Ventures. The company plans to double its headcount by 2024.
This round is by far the largest of the year so far.
