Industry-grade operating system for autonomous robots startup MOV.AI raises $3 million in seed funding

MOV.AI, the developer of first industry-grade Operating System for autonomous intelligent collaborative robots for large-scale commercial deployment, has raised $3 million in seed funding to produce smarter robots on a large scale for operation and production lines. The round was led by Viola Ventures, Israel’s leading technology investor with over $2.8 billion assets under management, and NFX, a San Francisco based venture firm founded by entrepreneurs who previously started 10 companies with exits over $10 billion.

Founded in 2016, the London, England-based MOV.AI provides an industry-grade operating system for autonomous intelligent collaborative robots for universal commercial use. The Company was founded by Limor Schweitzer, an industry veteran with over 20 years of experience in developing robots, robotic solutions and sales robotic equipment. MOV.AI has a strong team of best-of-breed robot developers with more than 13 years of experience.

MOV.AI’s main target audiences are manufacturers of material handling equipment, automation integrators, and other collaborative robot manufacturers. Their solution provides an industry-grade, ROS compatible O/S that enables easy mapping, robust, affordable and autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance as well as a modern end-user interface which facilitates easy customization to make autonomous robots a commercial reality. By Supporting cloud-based software-distribution and complying with cyber-security’s best practices, their solution provides the brains for making mobile machines operate autonomously.

MOV.AI, is a ROS compatible operating system, which enables industry-grade deployment of autonomous robot fleets. It decouples hardware from software, simplifies R&D and field implementation processes, thus making robot automation affordable for all.

The unique features, including easy mapping, robust and autonomous navigation, obstacle avoidance, cloud-based software-distribution, compliance with safety and cybersecurity’s best practices and modern end-user interface, facilitate easy customization making autonomous collaborative robots a commercial reality.

The main target audiences of MOV.AI are manufacturers of material handling equipment, automation integrators, and other collaborative robot manufacturers.

Limor Schweitzer, Founder & CEO of MOV.AI stated: “At MOV.AI, we have made it our mission to contribute to a world where intelligent robots perform most of the common physical tasks, which will free humankind to be more creative & productive, and enable faster market scalability. In other words, with the backing of Viola Ventures and NFX, we will be able to transform human operated mobile machines into autonomous robots that work safely together with people and other robots in any environment at all scalable levels.”

Ronen Nir, General Partner at Viola Ventures added: “MOV.AI is creating a truly transformative product, bringing software development best practices to the fast growing robotics industry. We are happy to partner with MOV.AI’s talented team and support them, since we believe that the impact and potential value of MOV.AI’s ecosystem will gain traction as more large customers, distributors and developers come on board.”

Viola Ventures is a venture capital firm, empowering early stage start-ups to become global leaders. Founded in 2000, Viola Ventures manages over $1B across five funds, with significant number of investors from the US, Asia, Europe and Israel. NFX is an early stage venture firm based in San Francisco, founded by entrepreneurs who have built 10 companies with over $10 billion in exits.

Gigi Levy-Weiss, managing partner at NFX added: “MOV.AI is leveraging its in-depth technological aptitude and years of hands-on experience in robotics R&D to bring the commercialization of robotics to the market. This way, the company is reshaping the industry and has the potential to build a huge business. As such, we are proud to invest is such a promising startup.”

MOV.AI is already seeing traction in the EU, APAC and the US. Based on pilot projects with large automation integrators and industrial operators, the impact and potential value of MOV.AI’s ecosystem is already evident.