AUTONOMOUS technology startup Sesto Robotics has pocketed US$5.7 million funding from the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore Seeds Capital, venture capital fund manager Trive and German-based machinery equipment group World Trading Inovation (WTI).
“Having WTI as a strategic investor at this stage of our company’s development helps us to expand into the important European and German market that is the home of Industry 4.0,” said its chief executive officer Chor-Chen Ang in a press statement on Thursday (Jan 13).
Sesto will also use funds to develop its autonomous mobile robot (AMR) capabilities and digital marketing.
Based in Singapore, Sesto designs and manufactures robots for automated delivery and material handling processes in manufacturing, healthcare and commercial facilities.
Its previous investors include Singtel Innov8 and Temasek-owned investment firm Heliconia Capital Management who invested S$4 million in Sesto’s Series A round in 2018.
Last year in May 2021, the company partnered with German-based automation specialist Baumüller Anlagen-Systemtechnik, to take Sesto’s flagship AMR, the Sesto Magnus, to Baumüller’s customers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
At the height of the pandemic in May 2020, the company launched Sesto HealthGuard, a self-navigating robot that can disinfect facilities while manoeuvring around tight places and avoiding obstacles and people.
In response to growing concerns around environmental infection and community spread with the outbreak of Covid-19, Sesto’s team conceptualised the product in less than 4 weeks by integrating the disinfectant unit on its industry-adopted mobile robot platform.
The robotics company is a spin-off from Hope Technik, a Singapore-based engineering firm that builds drones and firefighting robots, which also counts Singtel Innov8 and Heliconia as its backers.
Following this funding round, Trive’s founder and managing partner Christopher Quek was appointed as director of Sesto.
Photo Courtesy: Sesto Robotics, Bio Spectrum Asia Edition
Source: The Business Times
