[Funding alert] Bengaluru startup Invento Robotics raises undisclosed fund from MSPL Limited, others

Bengaluru-based robotics startup Invento Robotics on Wednesday announced the closure of its current funding round, where it raised a large undisclosed amount from MSPL Limited, Chiripal Group, and angel investors in August. 

This new round of funding will enable Invento to scale its production and get new certification to meet the global standards in manufacturing robots. In fact, the startup recently closed several export deals in the USA, UAE, Singapore, Australia, and Qatar.

Founded in 2016 by Balaji Vishwanathan, Mahalakshmi Radhakrushnan, and Bharath Kumar, Invento Robotics released two new robots — Astra and Robodoc — which complements its earlier release called the Mitra.

The Invento C-Astra, launched in April, is a robot that helps in screening patients and disinfecting areas while the startup's first humanoid robot, Mitra, was designed for customer engagement. It alerts hosts about the arrival of visitors.

Mitra can recognise guests with face recognition and engage them in conversations while alerting the hosts of their arrival. It can also automate various things at your lobby that both decrease the cost of the operations, and improves the customer experience. 

With Mitra’s AI capabilities, the startup claims that one can understand more about the customers and engage them better, leading to better sales and customer satisfaction. Unlike humans, these robots maintain context across different areas and provide patient service.

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"At a time when humans become like robots, we bring back humanity through robots," said Balaji Vishwanathan. 

Many believe that the post-COVID-19 world will see robots shaping customer experience at retail outlets.  

Invento Robotics claims that all its robots are designed and manufactured in the country. While many hardware companies assemble their products in China — something even investors insist on for sunrise sectors like robotics — Invento ensures that it does everything in-house.

According to IndustryARC, the Indian industry is rapidly moving towards automation for increasing production volume, accuracy, and safety. It needs industrial automation to increase product supply and domestic manufacturing. 

In 2018, the Indian Industrial Robotics market was evaluated at 4,564 units, and is estimated to grow at 13.3 percent CAGR from 2019-2024. For meeting the automation needs, the Indian market installed 30 percent more industrial robots compared to 2016. Industrial robotics manufacturers are now considering India as a prime destination for their product sales.

Invento competes with homegrown startups like Kuka Robotics, which is trying to make it big in the industrial robotics space.