Council Post: The Demise Of Robotics Companies: Learning From Past Mistakes

When Amazon acquired Kiva Systems for $775 million in 2012, it became a catalytic event for venture investment in robotics companies. Venture capitalists (VCs) envisioned replicating this success in a much bigger way (i.e., creating unicorn companies). And Silicon Valley engineers wanted to capitalize on the opportunity to not only fill the void left by Kiva in the marketplace but to also go a step further and build more capable robots. The VC appetite for robotics and related hardware grew unabated for almost a decade, leading to a staggering aggregate funding of roughly $20 billion to date. This capital infusion cemented the robotics space as one of the hottest sectors of the decade.