As companies increasingly use physical automation to solve labor and margin challenges, Formant’s platform delivers the data backbone that powers large-scale robotic fleets
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 11, 2023 — Formant, the leading robotics data and operations platform, today announced the completion of a $21 million funding round. The investment was led by BMW i Ventures, with participation from new investors Intel Capital, GS Futures and previous investors including SignalFire, Hillsven, Pelion Ventures, Holman, Ericsson, Goodyear Ventures, PICUS Capital and Thursday Ventures.
This latest fundraising round comes after a year of record growth for Formant, during which the company increased revenue by more than 500% year-over-year. Much of this growth has come from blue – chip enterprises such as Blue River Technology (a subsidiary of John Deere) and BP, as well as industry leaders like Burro, Scythe, and Knightscope. The company will use the proceeds to expand its hiring across all departments, introduce new products and features, and accelerate growth in 2023 and beyond.
“Formant is uniquely positioned to meet the business objectives and technical requirements of large enterprise companies operating at global scale looking to expand their robotics footprint,” says Jeff Linnell, CEO and Founder of Formant. “Our platform now powers tens of thousands of production robots around the world across dozens of different industries.”
In 2023 Formant expanded its focus to the enterprise, taking advantage of the accelerating adoption of intelligent robots across large organizations. Formant delivers a secure data platform to operate fleets of robots at any scale through a single pane of glass.
“Autonomous robotic systems have broken free from R&D departments and are now being deployed at scale to drive business outcomes and resilient operations,” says Kasper Sage, Managing Partner at BMW i Ventures. “Their proliferation across mission-critical functions as well as support tasks for humans in various industries underscores the urgent need for seamless data management and orchestration across robotic endpoints. Formant is the operating system underpinning the future of the automated enterprise.”
Formant’s rapid growth has been supported by a flurry of new product introductions and integrations, including enterprise-grade tools and account management features to empower enterprise customers. Earlier this year, the company launched Theopolis, the AI language interface that enables non-technical users to interact directly with robot data and build visualizations inside Formant.
“In the ever-evolving landscape of robotics and AI integration, Formant stands ready to take center stage. As industries embrace large-scale automation, the role of data becomes paramount in fleet optimization and AI model training,” says Kate MeLynda, President of Formant. “Formant’s cutting-edge platform simplifies the collection and management of robot data on a grand scale, ushering in a new era where AI seamlessly enhances physical automation.”
Formant is on a mission to underpin the intersection of robotics and AI for enterprises and robotics companies. To help teams get the most out of every robot, Formant also supports easy integrations with many of the industry’s leading tools such as ROS2, NVIDIA’s Isaac simulator, and Clearpath’s Outdoor Navigation.
About Formant
Formant is a cloud platform that helps robotics companies easily deploy, scale, and manage their fleets. Founded in 2017 by former roboticists at Google and Savioke, Formant’s platform powers tens of thousands of field-deployed robots from leading companies such as Knightscope, Scythe, and Burro.
About BMW i Ventures
BMW i Ventures is the independent venture capital firm of BMW Group, investing in startups defining the future of mobility, supply chain, and sustainability. The firm has made many successful investments over the years in companies such as Blackmore, ChargePoint, CelLink, Fox Robotics, GaN Systems, Plus One Robotics, Our Next Energy, Tekion, Xometry, and many more. BMW i Ventures invests in all stages from seed to growth with a focus on Series A/B. More information can be found at: https://www.bmwiventures.com.
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SOURCE Formant
