Techstars

Techstars Central LLC, founded in 2006 and based in Boulder, Colorado, operates as a startup accelerator and venture capital firm focused on supporting early-stage technology-oriented companies. It specializes in a mentorship-driven accelerator program, selecting ten startups each summer to participate in a three-month incubation period, offering funding of $120,000 in exchange for equity. Techstars invests primarily in sectors such as fintech, artificial intelligence, blockchain, augmented reality, and IoT, while avoiding investments in medical devices, healthcare technology, and local service-oriented businesses. In addition to its primary accelerator, Techstars has various specialized programs, including those focused on music, retail, mobility, and social impact, with global reach extending to regions such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The firm prefers taking minority stakes, typically between six and ten percent, without seeking board representation or investor rights. Techstars has built a robust network of entrepreneurs, mentors, and corporate partners to foster innovation and growth within its portfolio, which includes over 1,000 companies with a significant collective market capitalization.

Focus

Pre Seed Round Seed Round Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Series A Show more

http://techstars.com/ventures

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https://www.capitaliq.com/CIQDotNet/company.aspx?companyId=431767203

https://www.privateequityinternational.com/database/#/profile?id=14977

Ethan Austin

MD of the Techstars Western Union Accelerator

Mark Tortorella

Advisor

Nathanial Zola

MD

Past deals in Industrial Automation

Eskuad

Pre Seed Round in 2021

Traditional industries have some of their processes operating in places where the internet service is unreliable, implying that it's not easy for managers and workforce to get data, so managers can make the best decisions, save time & money, and improve their KPI. Eskuad helps you to keep control of your process, even when your team operates where the internet service is unreliable, with a fast and customizable UI, specially designed for the distributed workforce, automated reports and system integrations.

Peer Robotics

Funding Round in 2021

Peer Robotics is an industrial automation company that provides an easier, flexible, and cost efficient way to integrate and deploy mobile robots. Peer Robotics building out a suite of Collaborative Mobile Robots (CMR) with use-cases in manufacturing, warehousing, and healthcare sectors, the platform is currently live with paid PoCs (Proof of Concepts).

Toolsvilla

Pre Seed Round in 2020

Indian Farming is mostly dependant on Human & Animal labour. 7 out of 10 farms in India use traditional farming practises which keeps the business small & non-scalable. Toolsvilla is India's Leading Digital Marketplace to Buy, Sell, Finance, Service & Insure ‘Machinery’, ‘Automation Tools’ & ‘Equipment’ used by both Farm & Non-Farm Rural SMBs. Our aim is to give transparency on pricing, information & comparison of Machinery & Hardware Equipment all on a Single Platform. We bring the ease of buying Machinery & tools to every customer who finds it hard to get one. We help them with not just the knowledge but also services like Cash-on-delivery, EMI payments, Easy-returns & After-Sales Support. We envision Toolsvilla as a one-stop platform for all machinery & automation needs for SMBs.

Iamus Technologies

Pre Seed Round in 2020

Iamus Technologies Limited is an artificial intelligence and robotics company based in Ireland that focuses on developing advanced technology for the poultry industry. The company has created robotic systems specifically designed to assist poultry farmers in making informed and safer production decisions. Over the past two years, Iamus has collaborated with poultry processors worldwide to identify key performance indicators that its robots can continuously monitor within poultry sheds. This technology captures automatic and accurate data regarding the birds and their environment, allowing for real-time analysis and intervention. By utilizing machine learning, Iamus transforms visual, environmental, and biometric data into actionable insights, thereby addressing the increasing demands of modern, intensive broiler production and helping producers optimize their operations.

EcoPlant

Series A in 2020

EcoPlant Technological Innovation Ltd. develops and manufactures an industrial IoT monitoring system designed to enhance energy efficiency in critical industrial operations. Established in 2016 and located in Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut, Israel, the company offers a cloud-based platform that connects directly to various industrial control equipment, including air compressors and other essential systems. Utilizing artificial intelligence, EcoPlant's technology continuously monitors the performance of connected machines and sensors, providing real-time alerts and maintenance recommendations based on electricity consumption. The platform employs advanced algorithms that learn from the operational data, enabling clients to optimize energy use, reduce waste, and improve system reliability. Through ongoing energy assessments, EcoPlant aids organizations in managing and controlling their industrial systems more effectively.

ThinkDeep AI

Pre Seed Round in 2020

In manufacturing, manual inspection of defects is time-consuming and attention-draining. Deepflow empowers factories to automate defects inspection with Machine Vision (Artificial Intelligence) and improve the accuracy and speed of quality control. - Increase productivity: Automate repetitive, attention-draining defects inspection and labeling tasks. - Improve explainability: Spot defects with pixel-accuracy thanks to cutting-edge Machine Vision technology. - Guarantee traceability: Automatically track and log all spotted defects for continuous auditability.

Spiral Technology

Pre Seed Round in 2020

Spiral Technology delivers augmented reality software and adapts sophisticated technical content for Mixed Reality devices used in automating industrial maintenance, inspection, manufacturing and assembly.

Southie Autonomy

Pre Seed Round in 2020

Southie Autonomy develops a robot software that enables any industrial robot to be re-purposed and re-deployed by any person even without robotics expertise or even computer skills. It aims to help businesses recoup ROI faster by lowering time, cost, and skill barriers, in applications like kitting, palletizing, and simple assembly. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

Tuffel Corporation

Pre Seed Round in 2019

They revolutionize how they build and use household power tools using the latest and greatest technologies in Machine Learning and IoT.As builders, we were often left wondering why there is a big mismatch between the technologies that go into building today’s power tools versus the technologies that go into building many, many IoT devices that exist today. Most power tools were invented over multiple decades, or even more than a century, ago, and their designs and functions have not changed much since then. This means that many functions that could easily be improved with modern technologies have not been improved. For example, many tools do not provide enough, if any, monitoring insights, leaving the users to only guess when the tools need repairs or when they will stop functioning.

EcoPlant

Pre Seed Round in 2019

Tomahawk Robotics

Seed Round in 2019

Tomahawk Robotics, Inc. is a Melbourne, Florida-based company founded in 2018 that specializes in designing and building various robotic systems. Its product offerings encompass assistive, security and defense, energy and infrastructure, and home automation robotics. The company's solutions are characterized by user-centric design and intuitive control technologies, allowing robots to operate safely alongside people in unstructured environments. By leveraging advanced electro-mechanical technology, Tomahawk Robotics creates systems that effectively manipulate real-world spaces and objects, serving as extensions of the user while prioritizing safety and cost-effectiveness.

Automaton

Pre Seed Round in 2019

Automaton Marketing, Inc. is a company based in Kirkland, Washington, founded in 2018. It specializes in developing Atomatest, a platform designed for business-to-business marketing campaigns and integration testing. This innovative platform empowers business users to test landing pages, campaigns, and integrations without requiring coding skills, thereby addressing quality and monitoring challenges common in software-as-a-service environments. Automaton enables users to automate monitoring, test multiple personas and variations, and set recurrence to ensure optimal performance. By focusing on marketing, advertising, privacy compliance, analytics, and sales, Automaton aims to deliver DevOps-style quality assurance and monitoring tailored for business users, filling a critical gap in the market where over 30% of SaaS technology selection and integration is performed by non-engineering personnel.

KitchenMate

Seed Round in 2018

Reshaping your food experience with the only automated restaurant for your workplace. Stay safe, stay on-site with real food, cooked anytime powered by our plug-&-play Smart Cooking System.

KitchenMate

Seed Round in 2018

Reshaping your food experience with the only automated restaurant for your workplace. Stay safe, stay on-site with real food, cooked anytime powered by our plug-&-play Smart Cooking System.

KitchenMate

Seed Round in 2018

Reshaping your food experience with the only automated restaurant for your workplace. Stay safe, stay on-site with real food, cooked anytime powered by our plug-&-play Smart Cooking System.

Rational Robotics

Pre Seed Round in 2015

Rational Robotics is a manufacturer based in Edmonton, Canada, specializing in automatic coating robots. The company designs and develops robotic machines that provide auto body repainting services, utilizing advanced technology such as 3D scanning and custom algorithms to optimize tool paths for painting. Their robots incorporate computer vision to automate the painting process, ensuring high levels of accuracy and quality across various sizes of objects. By enhancing and automating part painting, Rational Robotics offers efficient solutions for enterprises seeking to improve their painting operations.