Rice Robotics Secures $7 Million Funding, Empowers SoftBank's Office Delivery
Hong Kong-based Rice Robotics has successfully raised $7 million in funding to support its expansion and development efforts.
chandni
Rice Robotics, a Hong Kong-based company, has secured a significant order from SoftBank, showcasing its strength in the competitive enterprise robotics industry. Rice's adorable robots, equipped with blinking cartoonish eyes, have been successfully delivering 7-Eleven products to SoftBank's new headquarters in Takeshiba, Tokyo since January 2021. These robots have an impressive payload capacity of 30kg and a storage space of 39 x 27 x 34 cm.
Rice Robotics offers a unique solution by allowing delivery workers to drop off customer orders at designated spots for their robots to fetch. This eliminates the need for navigating complex office buildings. The robots can operate continuously for 12 hours and recharge within one hour, showcasing their efficiency.
The recognition from SoftBank and other esteemed clients has attracted significant investment in Rice's recent pre-Series A funding round, raising a total of $7 million. Investors in this round include Alibaba Entrepreneur Fund, Soul Capital, Audacy Ventures, Sun Hung Kai & Company, and Cyberport HK. Notably, there is no lead investor for this round.
This financing will enable Rice Robotics to expand further into Japan, which has become its largest revenue source. Apart from SoftBank, Rice boasts clients such as Toyota, Japan Post, and Mitsui Group in Japan. The aging population and openness to new technology make Japan an attractive market for Chinese robotics companies.
Despite being located in the heart of South China's hardware supply chains, Rice defies convention by manufacturing its robots in Hong Kong instead of mainland China. The company discovered that producing in its home city significantly reduces the unit cost of its robots compared to manufacturing on the mainland. Furthermore, the Hong Kong government actively seeks to diversify the economy by attracting advanced manufacturing industries.
With a portion of the new funding, Rice Robotics has established a production plant in Hong Kong spanning 13,000 square feet. This facility has quadrupled the company's annual production capacity from 500 to 2,000 robots. Rice's robots utilize simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technology for navigation, allowing them to construct accurate on-the-fly models of their environment and estimate precise locations.
Priced at $9,000, Rice's robots offer a competitive market price and leverage advanced SLAM technology, positioning the company for continued success in the robotics industry.
