SoftBank-backed robotics firm Brain Corp. raised $36 million for product expansion during the coronavirus crisis
The coronavirus has pushed robotics and automation to the forefront as companies struggle with how to make basic activities, like grocery shopping, safe. In March, autonomous usage of Brain-powered scrubbers in U.S. retail locations soared more than 13% over the same period the previous year, according to the company’s internal network data. “There is a long-term impact of how we experience safety,” Izhikevich says. “Cleanliness and safety becomes the new brand.
In 2009, he left academia to launch Brain with the serial tech entrepreneur Allen Gruber. Initially, the company did research and development for Qualcomm, the maker of communications chips, and Darpa, the Defense Department division responsible for emerging technologies. In 2014, Brain moved into the development of machine learning and computer-vision systems for self-driving robots, and launched its first product two years later.Garrett Richardson, courtesy of Brain Corp.
While SoftBank has since run into its own financial troubles, and stumbled with WeWork, the once-highflying office-sharing firm, it was willing to invest again in Brain — provided other investors joined in, according to Izhikevich. “We are on the opposite side of WeWork,” Izhikevich says. SoftBank was not available for comment.
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