Israeli AI Robot Assistant Developer Robotemi Raises $15M

Israeli-founded Robotemi (listed under Temi Global), the developer of an AI-powered personal robot assistant, announced on Tuesday that it raised $15 million in a fresh investment round led by Chinese VC firm Joy Capital. Chinese investor John Wu, an existing investor in the company who previously served as Alibaba’s CTO for a decade, also participated in the round.

Founded in 2015, Robotemi developed a robot called Temi, which it calls the world’s first intelligent, mobile, personal AI robot. The product taps into the big trend of smart-display assistants, but it differentiates itself by being mobile, featuring Human-Robot Interaction characteristics and moving autonomously, the company says. Users can control Temi from any remote location in the world via the app and command different actions, from greeting guests at a hotel or restaurant to providing elderly medical assistance.

Robotemi is headquartered in New York and has an R&D lab in Tel Aviv, with a business and manufacturing location in Shenzhen, China. The company has raised over $95 million to date.

Robotemi CEO and co-founder Gal Goren said in a statement that the fresh investment round “is aligned with our company’s strategy to broaden our global business with worldwide partnerships while transitioning to rapid growth in our robot and software services sales. “

The robot is currently sold in the US and around Asia – mainly in Hong Kong, China, Korea and Japan, where its main use is to upgrade the business efficiency and experience in office environments, retail stores, hotels, hospitals, and universities, Goren said.

Amid the coronavirus outbreak around the world with an epicenter in Wuhan, China, Goren said the Temi is also being out to use in hundreds of nursing homes and hospitals across China, Hong Kong, and South Korea, allowing medical care professionals and families “to communicate through video calls with patients as well as tak[e] a remote heat sample and distribut[e] sanitary measures on the robot tray.”

Temi by Robotemi has won a number of prestigious awards over the past year, including 1st prize in the field of robots and drones at the Shanghai CES Asia 2019 Exhibition, a Gold Award in the Personal Robot category at the prestigious Edison 2019 Awards, and the best robot in CES Las Vegas according to Tom’s Guide and the International PC Magazine Award for Best of MWC 2018. It was also recently listed as one of 100 best inventions of 2019 by TIME Magazine (alongside eight other Israeli inventions.)