BUET graduate’s robotics startup raises $20M in Series A investment

Co-founded by BUET graduate Ariyan Kabir, GrayMatter Robotics is a smart automation provider that develops AI-based tools and robotic assistants to make manufacturing tasks more efficient. The company recently raised a $20M Series A investment led by Bow Capital and joined by B Capital Group, Calibrate Ventures, OCA Ventures, Pathbreaker Ventures, Stage Venture Partners and 3M Ventures. Swift Ventures joined the financing round as well. 

According to Ariyan, the latest funding will help GrayMatter Robotics in expanding the team and enhancing the product, support, services and fuel deployments of smart robotic cells. "We are improving shop workers' lives by enhancing their productivity and enabling them to focus on higher-value tasks," he stated in a press release. Ariyan believes that owing to the increasing labour shortage, the global economy benefits a lot from automated surface finishing and treatment - crucial roles in modern manufacturing industries.

Last year, the company raised $4.1M in seed rounding funding led by Stage Venture Partners and Calibrate Ventures. B Capital Group, OCA Ventures, Pathbreaker Ventures and 3M ventures were also investors in this round. GrayMatter Robotics also received the RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award, which recognises creative and influential robotic-based innovations. The AI startup also received the NSF SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) Phase 1 and Phase 2 grants, which helped them develop the core technology behind their robotic tools.

As per a previous report by The Daily Star, GrayMatter Robotics utilises commercially available robots and sensors to build software that helps with industrial manufacturing. The process involves machine vision and path planning to identify a unique robotic part's geometry, enabling the automation tool to automatically pick up and process what material to use. The program then tells the robot arm to move in the correct direction and perform the intended operation.