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BMW i Ventures Invests in Formant Robotics Data Platform
BMW i Ventures* today announced in Mountain View, CA an investment in Formant,** a robotics data and operations platform. BMW i Ventures led the $21 million round, with participation from new investors Intel Capital, GS Futures, and previous investors, including SignalFire, Hillsven, Goodyear Ventures, Pelion Ventures, Holman, Ericsson, PICUS Capital, and Thursday Ventures. Formant’s platform is claimed to deliver the data backbone that powers large-scale robotic fleets. (AutoInformed: Autonomous Forklift Startup Backed By BMW i Ventures)
“Autonomous robotic systems have broken free from R&D departments and are now being deployed at scale to drive business outcomes and resilient operations,” said Kasper Sage, Managing Partner at BMW i Ventures. “Their proliferation across mission-critical functions as well as support tasks for humans in various industries underscores the urgent need for seamless data management and orchestration across robotic endpoints. Formant is the operating system underpinning the future of the automated enterprise.”
This latest fundraising comes after a year of record growth for Formant, during which revenue increased by more than 500% year-over-year. The company will use the new funds to expand its hiring in all departments, introduce new products and features, and accelerate growth in 2023 and beyond, according to Format.
*About BMW i Ventures
BMW i Ventures is BMW’s venture capital firm, investing money and resources in startups in the fields of Transportation, Manufacturing, Supply Chain and Sustainability. The firm has made many successful investments over the years in companies such as Blackmore, Chargepoint, CelLink, Proterra, Solid Power, Tekion, Xometry and many more. BMW i Ventures invests in all stages from seed to growth with a focus on Series A/B.
**Formant is a cloud platform that it claims helps robotics companies deploy, scale, and manage their fleets. Founded in 2017 by former roboticists at Google and Savioke, Formant’s platform powers tens of thousands of field-deployed robots from leading companies such as Knightscope, Scythe, and Burro. Earlier this year, Format launched Theopolis, an AI language interface that enables non-technical users to interact directly with robot data and build visualizations inside Formant.