Nimble robotics thrunheatertechcrunch series#

news stories from after I turned in my newsletter draft last Wednesday night) from re:Mars this week. The deadline to apply is July 7, if you think you’ve got what it takes.Ī couple of stragglers (i.e. Be incorporated anywhere (recording will take place virtually).Focus on tech connected to various aspect of robotics: AI, agtech, manufacturing, logistics, medical device, food tech, transportation, data processing, material science, SaaS, more.

Have at least a minimally viable product.We’ve also got an absolutely killer trio of judges I’m excited to tell you about in the coming weeks. If you’ve got an early-stage startup and want to share some (virtual) stage time with the biggest names in the industry, opportunities like this don’t come around very often. Oh, and we just opened up our pitch-off for the event. I’m happy to report that we managed to get them all on a single panel at next month’s event. It’s happening right now, in warehouses across the world, and here in the U.S., three companies are helping lead that charge. The pair may well have diverging perspectives when it comes to the future of human labor, but one thing they’ll no doubt agree on is the fact that an automated future is inevitable. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ll be speaking with Amazon’s VP Global Robotics, Fulfillment, Joseph Quinlivan, at our upcoming robotics event, as well as United States Labor Secretary Marty Walsh - on separate panels, mind. It also comes a week after I devoted a chunk of this column to Amazon’s robotics play, which had an accelerating effect on the category years before the pandemic. Apparently the old adage of things happening in Vegas staying in Vegas doesn’t extend to viral loads.Īfter managing to stave off COVID for the past couple of years, it’s fitting that I get to write about our fulfillment panel through the brain fog, as a strong case can be made that the category has benefited from pandemic-fueled automation more than any other. Forgive me, as I’m writing this under the influence of green tea and antivirals, so thank you in advance to the regularly Herculean efforts of our copy editor, David.

Three straight weeks of work travel amid a seemingly endless pandemic finally caught up with me. “The market has definitely taken a bearish turn,” he adds, “that committed climate VCs are well funded and actively looking for investment opportunities that urgently address the intensifying climate crisis we face.Welp. Morrison adds that, while the climate hasn’t been particularly great for fundraising, the firm was still able to find some like-minded investors. “We’ll not only be hiring across many engineering disciplines (from computer vision and robotics to mechanical and electrical engineering), but we’ll more than double the size of our manufacturing and customer teams as we build and deploy many more M.52.” We already have a bunch of roles open and we plan to hire dozens more over the next 12 months,” Morrison says. “Scythe is now just over 50 people and we’re excited to grow the team in the coming years. This new round will - in part - go toward fulfilling its 7,500 existing reservations. Scythe began delivering the mower to customers in Texas late last year and is beginning to deliver them in Florida as well. The last one is certainly intriguing, as Amazon loves to use these as opportunities to integrate its voice assistant into third-party tech, but the company says it doesn’t “have anything to share regarding future plans for integrating voice controls into M.52.” The round was led by Energy Impact Partners and features new investors like ArcTern Ventures, Alumni Ventures and the Alexa Fund.

Nimble robotics thrunheatertechcrunch series#

This morning it’s announcing a $42 million Series B, which brings its to-date funding north of $60 million. M.52 has to withstand the rough treatment of daily commercial landscape operations - like loading and unloading from trailers, moving through tightly packed depots, and jumping curbs in parking lots.” And the demand for durability goes beyond the mowing itself. “Our customers use M.52 to autonomously mow large-scale commercial properties like corporate campuses, parks, sports fields, and HOA complexes, all of which can have steep slopes and tough terrain. “ is purpose-built to tackle the unique challenges of commercial landscaping,” co-founder and CEO Jack Morrison tells TechCrunch. The world of robotic mowers is already a fairly crowded one, but while many are going after home applications (lawn Roombas, if you will), the Boulder, Colorado–based firm is specifically targeting commercial landscapers. Scythe first hit our radar when it emerged from stealth in 2021 with a $13.8 million Series A.