Genrobotics, a Trivandrum-based robotics startup, has raised Rs 2.5 crore in a pre-Series A round led by existing investors Unicorn India Ventures. Anand Mahindra along with SEA Fund, as per YourStory report.
Founded in 2015 by Arun George, Nikhil NP, Rashid Bin Abdulla and Vimal Govind MK, GenRobotic Innovations specialized in the design and development of robotic solutions to address the most pressing social issues.
Genrobotics is widely known for making Bandicoot, the fully automated manhole cleaning robots, and has already been working with the Centre and State Governments to help eradicate manual scavenging from India. It has deployed Bandicoot robots across 11 states in the country and hundreds of sanitation workers went through the rehabilitation process.
“There’s a lot of nervousness about the role of robots and AI in the future. But frankly, if robots can liberate people from this most degrading job in the universe, then I promise I will discard any doubts and always pray at the shrine of technology and robotics,” said industrialist Anand Mahindra.
The startup would use the funds for further scaling up production of Bandicoot to meet the growing demand in light of eradicating manual scavenging and to develop new products and R&D to leverage the technology for the healthcare segment.
Vimal Govind, Co-founder CEO, Genrobotics, said, “Mr Mahindra has offered his full support on implementing Bandicoots in each and every corner of India for putting an end to this dehumanising activity completely. [It] has accelerated the process of [switching from] manual scavenging to robotic scavenging.”
“Genrobotics had developed a globally relevant product and was already in talks with some international governing bodies for its deployment,” said Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures.
–AN
