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Savioke’s robot Relay can deliver coffee to hotel guests and has done over 11,000 guest deliveries till date

EDBI, the corporate investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board, along with Intel Capital and Chinese fund Northern Light Venture Capital (NLVC), has injected US$15 million Series A financing into US-based robotics company Savioke.

This round brings Savioke’s total funds raised to date to US$17.6 million. It has previously raised seed investment from Morado Venture Partners, AME Cloud Ventures, Google Ventures, and a few other individual investors.

Savioke will use the fresh capital to expand sales, marketing and product developments for its hotel delivery robot Relay.

“For decades, robots have been too complex, too expensive, and not safe enough to co-exist in human environments. Through a combination of advances in robotics software and the drop in costs for robotic hardware and components, those objections have disappeared. The time has finally come when robots are going to be at our beck and call, and for our robots in the hospitality industry we mean that quite literally,” said Steve Cousins, CEO at Savioke.

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Santa Clara, Savioke is creating robots for the services industry. Its flagship product Relay is an autonomous hotel delivery robot that has been deployed at five major hotel brands. It delivers coffee to guests from the hotel lobby of Starbucks and has done over 11,000 guest deliveries till date.

Also Read: EDBI, STT join IoT firm Greenwave’s US$45M Series C round

EDBI invests in smart and sustainable technology, ICT, biomedical sciences and select industry clusters. It supports its portfolio companies’ growth in Asia and globally.

Relay robot

“EDBI is pleased to support Savioke’s activities in Singapore to advance the application of innovative robotics technology in the local services industry, and realise Singapore’s vision as a Smart Nation. Singapore’s progressive technology environment, together with our deep talent pool and vibrant ecosystem, is well positioned to accelerate Savioke’s growth plans in Asia with EDBI’s assistance and connections in the region,” said Swee-Yeok Chu, CEO and President, EDBI.

NLVC is a leading China-focused VC firm targetting early- and early-growth stage tech, media, telecom, healthcare firms. To date, it has backed more than 100 companies.

NLVC manages approximately US$1.7 billion in committed capital with four USD funds and four RMB funds. The firm was founded in 2005 and is legally headquartered in Hong Kong, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Shenzhen and Menlo Park, California.

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