SoftBank's Vision Fund leads $200m funding in Chinese service robot maker Keenon
Summary
Keenon, which currently ships products to the US, Europe, South Korea, and Singapore, plans to leverage the connections of its new investors to explore new market opportunities and expand its customer base. In a statement, its founder Tony Li said that Keenon will use the funding to “drive innovation through its in-house R&D to provide new, efficient, and cost-saving applications, while scaling its current robot platform through the expansion in new markets and identifying new prospects to promote growth and boost revenue”. The Chinese service robot developer is speeding up its global expansion as the COVID-19 pandemic has promoted businesses worldwide to embrace automated, contactless solutions as a safer and more efficient approach in serving customers. The non-contact economy will become an important development trend in the post-pandemic era, said Maxwell Zhou, a founding member and executive general manager at CICC Alpha. Using AI and machine learning, combined with advanced manufacturing capabilities, Keenon is building innovative robotics to help increase productivity for restaurants, hotels, and hospitals in China and globally,” said Kentaro Matsui, managing director at SoftBank Group.