Construction automation company Built Robotics announced the close of a $64 million Series C led by Tiger Global, bringing its total funding to $112 million.
Built Robotics' motto is to “build the robots that build the world.” Its ExoSystem product is retrofitted onto excavators to make them autonomous.
The company said the system is deployed across the $1 trillion earthmoving industry, building critical infrastructure in energy, telecom, and more.
Fast and easy to install
The San Francisco-based company said the system can be installed and calibrated on an excavator in less than a day. Contractors can rent Exosystems as standalone units to install on their fleet of equipment, or they can lease pre-upgraded excavators from Built directly.
“We've spent the past few years neck-deep in R&D, and it's paid off. Our rental fleet is fully booked into 2023, and orders keep coming in,” said Noah Ready-Campbell, CEO of Built Robotics.
“The Series C will give us the capital we need to ramp production and get our robots into the hands of more contractors. And autonomous trenching is just the first step — customers are already asking for backfill, compaction, material handling, loading trucks, and more,” he added.
Pay as you go
Contractors pay an hourly fee to license the Exosystem's autonomous software — and depending on utilization — they can realize cost savings of 20% or better versus traditional methods. Installation, training, and 24/7 support are included, and discounts are available for long-term rentals, according to the company.
“As a leader in autonomous construction technology, Built's focus on easy-to-install robotic upgrades for heavy equipment is generating significant demand,” said Griffin Schroeder, a partner at Tiger Global. “We are excited to partner with them as their autonomous trenching solution helps transform the construction of solar farms, oil & gas projects, and other large and critical infrastructure projects around the world.”
Existing investors including NEA, Founders Fund, Fifth Wall, and Building Ventures have joined the round.
In other Built Robotics news
The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE), the 400,000-member union representing equipment operators in the US and Canada, has signed a first-of-its-kind training partnership with Built Robotics.
“The IUOE prides itself on having the best, most qualified, and safest operators, and our goal is to ensure that the best operators know how to use the best tools, and robots are certainly one of the tools of the future,” commented Russ Burns, consultant to the IUOE and retired general vice President of the IUOE.
In addition, the International Standards Organization (ISO) has recently appointed Built's Vice President, Gaurav Kikani, as a voting member on Technical Committee 127, the committee responsible for developing safety standards for autonomous earthmoving machinery.
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