AI and drone startup Clobotics bags $10m to expand to Singapore

Shanghai- and Seattle-headquartered computer vision technology company Clobotics has raised US$10 million in its pre-series B+ round from Tiger Investment, 36Kr reported on Wednesday.

The new funds will be channeled toward research and development as well as the company’s expansion to Singapore. Clobotics closed its US$22 million pre-series B round in August 2019 and scored US$21 million in series A investment one year prior.

Photo credit: Clobotics

The company uses its fleet of drones to take precise photos for wind turbine blade safety inspections, sparing manual work and increasing efficiency by up to 10x, according to its website. Clobotics’ clients include Europe-based GEV Wind Power and Shanghai Electric.

In addition to wind power companies, Clobotics also serves consumer packaged goods companies and retailers, helping them to boost sales and cutting operational costs by capturing images of packaged goods, performing analyses, and providing real-time, data-driven insights on activity in their stores. Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, as well as Walmart are among its clients. Clobotics’ main competition in the retail sector is Singapore’s Trax Retail, Clobotics founder and CEO Yan Zhiqing told Geekwire in 2018.

Yan founded Clobotics in November 2016. Previously, he was a vice president of Microsoft’s Greater China business. He also co-founded drone maker Ehang, where he served as chief operating officer.

Yan told 36Kr that the company booked nearly 100 million yuan (US$14 billion) in revenue in 2019.

Guangzhou-based Ehang completed its initial public offering in New York in December, raising US$40 million. The company has shut down its consumer-facing business due to fierce market competition, and has turned to serve enterprises and governments. Ehang generated 67 million yuan (US$9.7 million) in revenue in the first three quarters of 2019 by providing air mobility services, logistics services, and aerial media solutions.

In the consumer drone sector, Shenzhen-based DJI is the dominant player, forcing other drone-related companies to go toe to toe in the corporate sector.

This report was first published on KrAsia.

Currency converted from Chinese yuan to US dollar: US$1 = 6.88 yuan.