SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Sarcos Robotics, a global leader in the production of robots that augment humans to enhance productivity and safety, announced that it has raised $40 million in an oversubscribed Series C financing round. The Series C round was led by Rotor Capital, with most of the company’s existing investors participating in the financing.
The Series C funding will be used to begin commercial production of the company’s Guardian® XO® industrial exoskeleton—the world’s first full-body, battery-powered wearable industrial robot designed to increase strength and endurance—scheduled for commercial release in 2021. The Guardian XO exoskeleton, which has been under development for more than 20 years, can safely lift up to 200 pounds for extended work sessions and applies to a myriad of industries such as aviation, manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, oil & gas, construction, defense, and others.
“ABI projects the total market value of the global powered exoskeleton market to exceed $11.5 billion by 2030 with full-body, powered industrial exoskeletons comprising almost 50% of that amount,” said Rian Whitton, Research Analyst, ABI Research.
“The Sarcos team achieved a significant engineering feat last year by completing the R&D phase of the world’s first battery-powered, full-body industrial exoskeleton—the Guardian XO,” said Ben Wolff, chairman and CEO, Sarcos Robotics. “This new funding will allow us to achieve our next goal of scaling production and shipping commercial units of the Guardian XO exoskeleton. In addition, we will also advance the development of our ‘smart’ version of the Guardian XO exoskeleton with our Cybernetic Training for Autonomous Robots (CYTAR™) artificial intelligence platform, which will enable the robot to augment the operator’s precision and skill to complete specific tasks.”
In addition to this fundraise, Sarcos is also announcing the appointment of two members to the company’s Board of Directors, including Brian Finn, Partner, Rotor Capital, and Cecilia Prieto, Division Vice President, Americas Land, Schlumberger.
Finn is a 35+-year veteran of the financial services industry. He currently serves as Partner at Rotor Capital. He retired as Chairman and CEO of Asset Management Finance Corp (AMF) and Senior Advisor to Credit Suisse in 2013. Finn is also Chairman of Covr Financial Technologies, an Investment Partner at Nyca Partners, Chairman of Star Mountain Capital, and a member of the boards of Scotts Miracle-Gro and Owl Rock Capital, along with several early-stage companies.
Cecilia Prieto has more than 20 years of experience in engineering, project management and operational roles. She is currently responsible for all land operations for Schlumberger in the Americas for the oilfield services and product sales businesses in Well Construction operations. She spent her first 10 years at Schlumberger developing electro-mechanical drilling systems that can communicate and be powered with only fluidic power. She then took on several assignments in the R&D and Technology organization. Most recently, Prieto was in charge of Drilling Operations for North Sea Scandinavia after an assignment as VP of Manufacturing overseeing 30+ manufacturing centers worldwide. She has four granted and pending patents.
“Sarcos Robotics is uniquely positioned to solve enormous global workforce challenges, such as reducing the economic and social impact of workplace injuries and solving a portion of the ever-increasing shortage of skilled labor which is forecasted to only get worse over the coming decades as the industrialized workforce ages and fewer young people pursue jobs that require physically demanding work,” said Brian Finn, Partner, Rotor Capital, and newly-appointed Sarcos board member. “While there is no question that automation is solving many of these challenges, there are many jobs across a wide range of industries that don’t involve repetitive tasks in a constrained environment. For these jobs, human intelligence and judgment are essential. Sarcos is one of the few industrial robotics companies focused on human augmentation rather than human replacement, delivering the economic and safety benefits of automation to those jobs that can’t be automated because of the complexity of the task or the environment.”
Sarcos is now accepting orders for the Guardian XO exoskeleton and plans to deliver production units in 2021. For more information about Sarcos, its leadership team, the board of directors and investors visit https://www.sarcos.com/company/.
ABOUT SARCOS ROBOTICS
Sarcos Robotics is the world leader in industrial robotic systems that augment human performance by combining human intelligence, instinct, and judgment with the strength, endurance, and precision of machines to enhance employee safety and productivity. Leveraging more than 25 years of research and development, Sarcos’ mobile robotic systems, including the Guardian® S, Guardian® GT, and Guardian® XO®, are revolutionizing the future of work wherever physically demanding work is done. Formerly the robotics division of a major defense contractor, Sarcos is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, powered by an innovative team of entrepreneurs and engineers, and backed by Caterpillar, GE Ventures, Microsoft and Schlumberger. For more information, please visit www.sarcos.com.
