Machine vision provider Cambrian announces $3.5M Seed+ funding

Machine vision company Cambrian Robotics recently announced a $3.5M Seed+ fundraising round led by Cybernetix Ventures and KST Invest GmbH, with participation from Yamaha Motor Ventures and Digital Media Professionals (DMP).

Cambrian said this investment will propel its AI platform, enabling industrial robot arms to perform vision-based tasks across a variety of industries.

"We are incredibly excited about the possibilities that our recent fundraising opens up,” said Miika Satori, CEO of Cambrian Robotics. “Our primary goals are to enhance the scalability of the product and strengthen our sales and operations in our main target markets. In addition, we are bringing new AI-vision-based skills to robot arms, further pushing boundaries in the field of robotics.”

Cambrian’s executive team, led by Satori, has over 50 years of combined experience in AI and Robotics. Joao Seabra, CTO, is an award-winning roboticist, and Dr. Alexandre Borghi, head of AI, previously led research teams at a $3 Billion AI chip startup.

“Machine vision is a crowded space, but Cambrian has strong differentiation with its unique ability to identify small and transparent items with proprietary visual AI software,” said Fady Saad, founder and GP of Cybernetix, who will join Cambrian’s board of directors. “Miika and his exceptional team have also managed to bring the product to market with active revenue from top brands.”

Cambrian machine vision deployed to industrial manufacturers

Cambrian said it is testing and deploying its vision systems to automotive manufacturers including Toyota, Audi, and Suzuki, as well as chemical manufacturer Kao and consumer appliance manufacturer Electrolux.

"Although in our factories we have a high level of automation, we still have an important quantity of flexible components and manual processes which add variability,” said Jaume Soriano of Electrolux Group. “Cambrian helps us keep moving toward a more automated manufacturing reality while being able to deal with variable scenarios.”

Cambrian’s machine vision is also being deployed by appliance manufacturers globally for monitoring quality assurance and manufacturing defects that were previously unseen to the human eye.

Machine vision for picking transparent and reflective pieces

Cambrian said its AI-driven robotic vision software and camera hardware enables existing robotic systems to achieve a new level of automation for tasks that previously were only possible with manual methods. With Cambrian, robots can execute tasks such as intricate assembly processes, bin picking, kitting, and pick-and-place with unmatched accuracy in any lighting condition.

Cambrian said its machine vision systems are quick to install (~0.5 days), work with all major industrial robots, and have the ability to pick microparts precisely and quickly (<200ms). Cambrian’s systems can pick a wide range of parts, including transparent, plastic, and shiny metal.

Cambrian is also backed by ff Venture Capital (ffVC), who invested in the company’s seed round. ffVC initially seeded Cambrian after the company graduated from its startup accelerator, AI Nexus Lab, in partnership with NYU's Tandon School of Engineering in Brooklyn.