By Alex Beall | September 28, 2017 Kinova Robotics, a Canadian provider of robotics for the disabled, raised $20 million USD ($25 million CAD) that will fund product development, market expansion and production optimization. The financing came from Fonds Manufacturier Québécois, the KTB Network, Foxconn and BDC Capital. “We want our users to achieve the extraordinary with our robots — creating more value for themselves and our society,” CEO Charles Deguire said in a statement. “The financial support, broad expertise and geographic coverage of our experienced partners gives us additional resources to accelerate our growth, quickly and strategically establish our presence in new markets, develop an extended line of breakthrough products and propel our advanced manufacturing capabilities.” Specifically, the company plans to use the funds to transition into three new areas of service robotics: collaborative robots for inspection and pick and place operations, manipulators for mobile platforms and medical robots for research and therapies. “We firmly believe that our technology and expertise can help improve patient care,” Deguire said. “We are looking to build partnerships with hospitals, governments and other players in the industry so that our products contribute to the healing of patients.” In addition, Kinova aims to open offices outside Canada, namely in Asia and the U.S., to better supply its customers with the technology. Earlier this year, the company opened an office in Germany, and it is also looking to increase its production efficiency through automation. “We are proud to support Kinova, a highly innovative Canadian company with a mission to provide life-changing service robots to people,” Jean-Philippe Poissant, director of growth and transition capital at investor BDC Capital, said in the release. “Our financial support will enable this young and dynamic team to continue investments in research and development, all while enabling them to realize their ambitious growth plan.”
Canada 's Kinova Robotics has raised $ 20 m to finance the further development of its robotic ##s for the disabled and expand into Asia and the US . The funds were invested by Fonds Manufacturier Québécois , the KTB Group , BDC , and Foxconn . It said it will use the proceeds to develop collaborative robotic devices for inspections and pick - and - place operations , manipulator robots for mobile applications , and robots for medical research and treatment .