Robotics Startup ViaBot announces public launch

Robotics startup, ViaBot, announced its public launch with $6.1 million in funding. As part of the launch, it also disclosed a deal with Cushman & Wakefield which has deployed ViaBot’s RUNO robots to properties in the Bay Area for sweeping and security services.

The company’s RUNO robot is designed to clean and automatically dump its debris, as well as autonomously hot swap its battery when needed. While cleaning, it’s also able to do soft security monitoring; RUNO’s built-in sensors scan and escalate suspicious activity to security teams. For example, if a car has been parked in the same place for several days, it will trip RUNO’s flags. The robots have multiple cameras and sonar sensors and use GPS to help navigate.

Headquartered in San Francisco, ViaBot was founded by Gregg Ratanaphanyarat and Andre Ding in 2016, while both were undergraduate students at Penn State. ViaBot is backed by Baseline Ventures, Morado Ventures, and Grit Ventures and partnered with SOSV.

“ViaBot has taken one of the least sexy industries in the world and brought it right into the future; facility management needed a reason to adopt technology and ViaBot was the solution that finally broke through the noise,” said Kelly Coyne, founding partner at Grit Ventures. “ViaBot is already working with many of the largest real estate companies in the United States. It’s gratifying pulling onto a Fortune 500 campus and seeing RUNO sweeping, scanning license plates and more. And even more recently — ViaBot robots were able to take on additional hazardous duties, including sweeping at a vaccination site.”
viabot.com