The last mile robotics startup Neubility, which makes autonomous delivery robots that work without lidar, it says it plans to increase its fleet to 400 by the end of this year, up from the 50 it currently has on the road. The goal is part of an ambitious plan the Seoul-based startup has laid out to boost its business after pivoting no less than five times since its founding six years ago, but also after recently closing a $26 million Series A deal. . Plans also include the launch of a new security robot alongside its dedicated delivery models.
Neubility has come a long way since its original product, a haptic gaming glove. Neubility CEO Sangmin Lee said that he has been focused on hardware and software development for his latest effort, delivery robots, since late 2019.
Neubility operates in a crowded industry that includes peers like Starship Technologies, Coco, Cartken and Kiwibot in the self-driving delivery robot space and Knightscope, which develops security robots.. Lee said the startup's differentiator is its self-developed products, which are cost-effective and low-maintenance, from robot hardware and software platforms to core technologies like visual simultaneous localization and mapping (V-SLAM). and sensor fusion.
“Many [autonomous robot companies] don't develop their own hardware, but the essence of autonomous driving is ownership of the hardware,” Lee says.
And instead of using expensive lidar, Neubie uses V-SLAM, which allows autonomous mobile robots to perceive the environment around them and obtain visual data from the physical world; then he builds a 3D map generated by the robots and locates them on that map.
Neubility introduced the second version of its autonomous delivery robot, known as the Neubie 1.5R, earlier this year at CES 2023. It claims it has the manufacturing scale to produce more than 100 Novato 1.5R delivery robots a month. Along with the robot, it also offers an API kit for robot monitoring and control solutions called "Neubie-GO", which it sells in a "RaaS" (Robotics as a Service) model.
Neubility too is expanding its products robotics beyond last-mile autonomous delivery, with a commitment to safety. Earlier this month, Neubility announced that it would jointly develop AI-powered “police robots” with Korean telecommunications company SK Telecom and SK Shieldus, a platform that provides core monitoring, cybersecurity consulting and dispatch services. Neubility plans to incorporate SK Telecom's AI camera and SK Shieldus' security technology into its hardware, and plans to launch them later this year.
The outfit also recently raised another 2,6 million (KRW 3.000 billion), their second Series A close, from Samsung Venture Investment. The expansion brings the startup's total funding, and Series A, to about $26,1 million (30.000 billion won) and values Neubility at about $76,9 million (100.000 billion won), according to sources familiar. with the situation. The company declined to comment on the valuation.
The new funding will allow Neubility to commercialize more robots, advance its RaaS platform, and hire more staff in its R&D team. The company has a hundred employees, 70% of whom are dedicated exclusively to R&D.
Neubility has already partnered with a number of large companies, some of them strategic investors in the startup. Among them are the two largest telecommunications operators in South Korea, SK Telecom and KT; Samsung Welstory, Samsung's food distribution unit; and 42dot, the autonomous driving technology division of Hyundai Motor.
Other backers include IMM Investment, Korean retail companies Shinsegae and Lotte, Kakao Investment and KB Investment.
He also works with 7-Eleven, which he has helped launch a food delivery service that will go live in June. Users can order food and small items through the Neubility or 7-Eleven apps. Neubie will help deliver the ordered items in some limited populations in a couple of cities, such as Seoul and Incheon in South Korea. Most of your clients are in B2B. Neubility hopes that its agreement with 7-Eleven will allow it attract more customers B2C and retailers in the future.
In the last 12 months, Neubility has launched several pilot projects to test its autonomous delivery robots on golf courses and campsites. (The startup now operates about 50 robots at five golf courses and campsites to deliver food, drinks, and small items.)
Robot manufacturers believe that the growth of the e-commerce market will also drive demand for their technology. According to a recent report, delivery robots will represent a market of 1.800 billion dollars in 2028, compared to 400 million in 2021.
