Vancouver clean-tech venture capital firm Chrysalix is partnering with a Dutch accelerator that specializes in robotics to create a new $146 million venture capital fund to help kickstart the fledgling robot space.
“Global technology in robotics is advancing very quickly, yet today there is no international pure-play venture capital fund focused on robotics and so closely aligned with a robotics ecosystem,” Chrysalix managing partner Mike Sherman said in a news release.
“Many breakthrough technologies are stranded in universities and national labs with insufficient early-stage funding available to help them commercialize and scale.”
Chrysalix, which specializes in funding clean energy and clean technology, has partnered with RoboValley, an accelerator based out of Delft University in the Netherlands, where Chrysalix founder Wal van Lierop is originally from.
While many people think “android” when thinking about robotics, for industrial purposes it’s more aptly described as intelligent automation. The funds will be raised from large industrial corporations and financial institutions over the coming months, Sherman told Business in Vancouver.
“Our goal is to have this fund raised by the end of this year,” Sherman said.
Sherman said the RoboValley fund would likely provide venture capital funding for 15 to 20 startups.
The new RoboValley fund will be aimed at matching up market demand with universities and startups developing novel approaches in robotics.
Chrysalix is one of the few pure play venture capital firms focused on clean technology.
Leveraging investment from global blue-chip companies, Chrysalix has raised more than $300 million, which it has invested in potentially disruptive technology companies, such as Burnaby’s General Fusion and New Jersey’s Liquid Light – a company working on using waste CO2 as a feedstock for making a variety of chemicals.
