RB-Ware Raises Approx. KRW 900 Million in Seed Funding from SparkLabs and SOSV
Developer of 'RB-MIG,' a no-code collaborative robot welding system.
RB-Ware (Co-Founders Jae-hyuk Lee and Can Berk Sansoy), a company specializing in no-code collaborative robot welding and grinding solutions, announced on the 30th that it has raised a total of approximately KRW 900 million in seed funding from SparkLabs and SOSV.
Alongside this investment, RB-Ware has been selected for HAX, the hardtech-focused accelerator program run by SOSV (New Jersey, USA) and will begin its full-scale entry into the U.S. market.
RB-Ware explained that investors resonated with the market entry and revenue base validated by RB-MIG, the clear expansion market of shipbuilding and heavy industry, and a technology roadmap leading to autonomous mobile welding robots.
'RB-MIG' is a collaborative robot welding system that field workers can use right away, without any separate programming. Manufacturing sites around the world are facing a serious labor gap as skilled welders age and retire, and major industrial nations are each expected to face a shortage of hundreds of thousands of welders. RB-Ware is focused on solving this problem with robots.
RB-Ware has its headquarters in Korea and entities in Rotterdam (the Netherlands), Istanbul (Türkiye), and New Jersey (USA), and supplies its products through a global network of 21 partner system integrators (SIs) across 16 countries. With more than 250 units installed globally, the company continues to expand its presence in the international market. Recently, the company has expanded into shipbuilding and heavy industry, and in February this year it signed a proof-of-concept (PoC) agreement on autonomous robotic grinding with Italy's Fincantieri Group, Europe's top shipbuilding group. Its core hardware partner is Rainbow Robotics, a Samsung Electronics subsidiary.
RB-Ware plans to invest the funds primarily in developing 'RB-AW,' an AI-based autonomous mobile welding robot, and in expanding field demonstrations at shipyards in the U.S. and Europe. In the long term, its goal is to build 'AWaaS (Autonomous Welders as a Service),' a model that supplies robotic welders as a service, and it plans to secure follow-on funding next year to begin building a fleet of autonomous welding robots in earnest.
"Heavy industry sites are facing a structural crisis in which new workers cannot keep up with the pace at which skilled welders are retiring," said Can Berk Sansoy, CEO of RB-Ware. "Building on technology proven through field demonstrations with multiple PoC partners, we will build a fleet of robots that move and weld on their own in environments that are difficult for people and establish ourselves as standard infrastructure for our global customers."
Contact us today to learn more about our welding and grinding systems!
