Fresh off a successful demonstration of its robotics construction platform, San Francisco-based Raise Robotics announced that it added $7.75 million in funding following a startup seed-funding round. MaC Venture Capital led the investment with participation from Undivided Ventures and existing investors Cybernetix Ventures, Zacua Ventures and Union Labs. Raise Robotics has raised $11.8 million overall.
The company designed, engineered and deployed a robotic platform with several interchangeable tools for multiple applications, including layout, scanning, drilling and installations. The robot is available in single or dual arm configurations and mounted on a compact mobile base. The system operates in extreme conditions and requires only standard two-dimensional floor plans.
The seed-funding announcement coincides with Raise Robotics’ training session with IUPAT Glazier instructors at IUPAT District Council 21 in Philadelphia. Around two dozen IUPAT instructors nationwide traveled to the shop to learn and operate the robotic system.
“Construction is undergoing a fundamental shift,” says Vivin Hedge, general manager and founding partner of Zacua Ventures. “With mounting pressure from labor constraints, cost overruns and safety risks, the need for adaptable, automation-ready solutions has never been greater. Raise Robotics stood out to us for building a versatile platform that enables contractors to scale automation across multiple scopes, not just one-off tasks.”
The Raise Robotics team recently helped install a curtainwall layout with more than 10,000 glass panels at the 15-story St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. Raise Robotics officials say their system helped save around 830 hours on the project.
“When doing layout by hand on the first two floors, we saw $100,000 to $130,000 worth of rework due to defects,” says Pierce Torrance, senior project manager for JR Butler, the glazing contractor. “After that expensive lesson, the decision was made to bring Raise Robotics onto the job as a countermeasure to prevent those same layout issues on the remaining floors.”