A robotics company founded by four Waterloo Engineering alumni expects to almost double its workforce within 18 months after securing $30 million US in funding to pursue the market for self-driving vehicles in factories and warehouses.
Clearpath Robotics of Kitchener – started in 2009 by mechatronics engineering graduates Ryan Gariepy, Patrick Martinson, Matt Rendall and Bryan Webb – announced the investment, led by iNova Capital, in a press release today.
Matt Rendall (left) and Ryan Gariepy are two of the four Clearpath Robotics co-founders who graduated from the mechatronics program at Waterloo Engineering.
It will use the money to aggressively expand its industrial division, OTTO Motors, which was launched in 2015 to focus on the development of self-driving vehicles to move materials around in manufacturing and warehouse operations.
Rendall, the company’s CEO, compared factories to small, indoor cities and said they are “an ideal place to introduce self-driving vehicles at scale” because they are controlled environments.
Companies including General Electric and John Deere already use OTTO material-handling equipment and the potential market is huge as companies look to cut costs and improve efficiency.
With roots in a robotics competition sponsored by the U.S. military, Clearpath now employs 155 people at its Kitchener headquarters and has customers in more than 40 countries.