London robotics startup Machenta raised a $40 million Seed round. Creandum and Union Square Ventures co-led the investment. The company builds an AI model that helps robots learn physical jobs from a single demonstration.
Funding details
The deal is the largest Seed round raised by a UK robotics company to date. Machenta came out of stealth with the funding announcement. The capital will support technology scaling and team expansion.
Founding team
Edward Johns and Vitalis Vosylius co-founded the startup. Johns is a professor of robot learning at Imperial College London. Vosylius was his PhD student and first author of the Instant Policy paper.
How the model works
Machenta trained its AI model entirely in simulation. It used no real-world data. After training, the robot can perform tasks such as packaging, assembling, and tidying after seeing them once.
Machenta currently employs around a dozen people. It is based in the King's Cross area of London. It plans to add staff from that base.