Covariant, a leading AI Robotics company, raised $40 million in Series B funding in May 2020. Just after a year, the Berkeley-based AI start-up, Covariant raises $80M Series C funding, bringing its total capitalization to $147 million within two years of the company coming out from stealth mode.
The Series C round was led by returning investor, Index Ventures, with the additional participation of Radical Ventures and Amplify Partners. Covariant also added Temasek and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) as new global investors with this latest round of funding.
“With Covariant rolling out multiple applications in warehouses across Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific over the last year, it’s the first time that AI Robotics has been successful at this scale with such variability. Covariant consistently outperforms the competition in tests by prospective clients to benchmark autonomy in real-world operations,” said Mike Volpi of Index Ventures.
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Covariant was founded in 2017 by OpenAI along with researchers from the University of California, Berkeley. Last year, they deployed Covariant Brain, which was described as “universal AI that enables robots to see, reason, and act autonomously in the real world.” It’s currently active in markets across Europe, Asia, and North America. Covariant has deployed its AI and robotics technology across various sectors from groceries, Industrial supply, pharmaceuticals, parcels, general merchandise, health, beauty, and fashion.
The company currently has under 80 employees, and part of the funding will grow the team globally. Covariant has added high-profile team players to its management for meeting challenges: Ally Lynch as head of Marketing, Raghavendra Prabhu as head of Engineering and Research, and Sam Cauthen as head of People. Meanwhile, parts of the $80 million funding will continue to be invested in AI Robotics research and development (R&D) and accelerate bringing AI into the physical world.
