MIT spin-out Jibo raises $25.3m series A to bring robots in the home.
Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot is a step closer to reality following US-based Jibo’s $25.3m series A round which will be used to develop the startup’s home-based robotics platform.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology spin-out’s venture round was led by RRE Ventures, and was backed by Fairhaven Capital, CRV, Flybridge Capital Partners, Two Sigma Ventures, Formation 8, and Samsung Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of the eponymous tech firm. Osage University Partners, a syndicate of university investors backing businesses using university intellectual properties, is also a backer of Jibo following a seed round last year.
The company is developing a robot, also called Jibo, which it hopes will become the world’s first family robot. Jibo acts as an assistant, can judge when people are posing and take a picture, can send and receive messages, as well as other potential uses.
As part of the deal, Cynthia Breazeal, founder and MIT Media Lab roboticist, will move from CEO to chief scientist at Jibo. Steve Chambers, former president of sales for speech technology firm Nuance Communications, replaces Breazeal as CEO.
The funding will be used to hire new staff and speed the development of Jibo prototypes.
