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The Robot Report
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From surge to sobriety: the state of robotics investment in 2024
- Robotics startups have had difficulty securing investment in recent years, due to a general downturn in the tech industry affecting resource-intensive technologies like robotics.
- However, the investment environment has changed in 2024, with investment across all of 2024 expected to approach the all-time highs seen in 2021.
- Lower costs and higher performance of technology, including computing power, sensors, motors and batteries, combined with accelerating advances in AI, are now driving growth in the robotics sector.
- A new category has been added to robotics, humanoids, which had an investment of nearly $1bn by August 2024, with companies Apptronik, Figure and 1X commanding large funding rounds.
- Tesla and Boston Dynamics are investing heavily in-house in building their own humanoids.
- After falling off in 2022, investment in autonomous vehicles (AVs) is once again the majority investment in robotics. For example, Waymo reached 100,000 rides per week and Aurora has expanded its operations to new states.
- The software layer has been a focus of investment this year, particularly in foundational models as companies want to overcome interoperability, scalability and reliability challenges.
- Vertical Robotics has experienced steady growth, with interest in applying it to defence and agriculture industries.
- While funding in robotics has surged, the majority of capital has gone to large, mostly late-stage funding rounds. Earlier rounds are actually down year-on-year.
- There's a lack of successful robotics exits with much of the value remaining locked up in private unicorns, and a lack of M&A or public offerings continues to be an industry headwind.
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