Robotics may finally be hitting its long-awaited commercial inflection. But excitement only matters if it translates into deployment. That’s why SOSV is hosting a free, virtual 𝐕𝐂<>𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐩 starting Dec 1, bringing together the builders and backers driving this moment. Details & registration ➡️ https://lnkd.in/dmDvNPx2 And see below for SOSV/HAX GP Duncan Turner on what’s powering the robotics surge:
Next month, SOSV will host the latest in a series of VC-founder matchups. Previous events have focused on women’s health, bio-manufacturing, climate, and other topics central to the deep tech investment firm’s portfolio. Despite SOSV’s numerous investments in the space, however, robots have not yet been a focus. The firm’s December Robotics Matchup arrives amid an unprecedent fever pitch of investing excitement for the space. Year-to-date funding for robotics ventures hit $10.4B as of last week, besting the whole of 2024 ($7.5B), 2023 ($7B), 2022 ($8.7B), and 2020 ($5.7B). “There's a lot of excitement about robotics at the moment,” SOSV general partner Duncan Turner noted on a call earlier this week, “mostly driven by the humanoid robots, but that's definitely having a filtered down effect generally into the robotics ecosystem.” SOSV has thus far taken a broad approach to robotics funding. Investments include widely deployed inventory robotics maker, Simbe; well-funded ship hull Roomba, Neptune Robotics; age-tech assistive tech, Labrador; dry cleaning kiosk, Presso®; and clothing cut and sew “micro factory,” silana. What you won’t find on the list — at least for now — are humanoids. Turner, who also heads up SOSV’s hardware accelerator, HAX, expressed something of a mixed opinion on the humanoid form factor. “I actually really like them, waist up. It's the waist down bit that bothers me,” he explained, referring specifically to a first wave of industrial humanoids that were almost exclusively bipedal. “Cautiously bullish” is probably a fair way to categorize Turner’s take on the intensely hyped form factor. The perspective can be boiled down to something along the lines of: humanoids will be useful…eventually. “Right now, we're at a point where a bunch of companies have raised loads of money,” he noted. “They will get some product out. I think there will then be probably a delay in them getting to full deployment and you'll see that kind of dip down. And then you'll see those companies rise back up, and that's kind of the time to invest into those humanoid robots. But humanoids for me are more for the home than anywhere else. That's where they really make a lot of sense to me, because that's when you actually want something that resembles a human next to you.” This feature first appeared in the Automated newsletter. Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/e-EBkBdz Continue reading: https://lnkd.in/ejNhxZ79 More on SOSV's Robotics Matchup: https://lnkd.in/e-xz4yCX