Source: cnbctv18.com

Robotics startup Genrobotics on Wednesday said it has raised Rs 2.5 crore in pre-series A round funding from existing investors led by Unicorn India Ventures, along with industrialist Anand Mahindra and SEA Fund. The Kerala-based firm, Genrobotics has been working with the Centre and state governments with a mission to eradicate manual scavenging from the entire country and has deployed its Bandicoot robots across 11 states.

“The funds raised will be used 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 (research and development) to leverage the technology for the health care segment,” the company said in a statement. Commenting on the fundraise, Genrobotics Co-founder and CEO Vimal Govind said: “It was a great moment for us when Anand Mahindra took a personal interest in favour of robotic solutions for the real crisis hidden in manual scavenging.

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 and it has accelerated the process of transforming the manual scavenging to robotic scavenging. Unicorn India Ventures Managing Partner Anil Joshi said the company decided to back Genrobotics as it saw the potential robotics can bring to certain socially important issues, especially if the team backing the business is as passionate as the ones in Genrobotics.”We believe that they have developed a globally relevant product and are already in talks with some international governing bodies for its deployment. To facilitate their expansion plans, we have decided to back them up with additional funds,” he added.