Grishin Robotics

Dmitry Grishin, co-founder and CEO of Mail.ru ServiceCorporation, created his own venture capital fund Grishin Robotics, which will invest in the development of projects for the development of robotic technologies. Grishin Robotics plans to invest $25 million in the production of robots that are used in the healthcare and transportation industries.

History

2022

Investing in Arctic7 Gaming Technology Developer

On March 14, 2022, game technology developer Arctic7 announced the attraction of $2 million in investments. The funding round was led by the venture capital company Grishin Robotics, several business angels also took part in it. The estimated value of the startup based on the investment results is not disclosed. More details here.

Investing in the Linguix English Writing Assistance Service

February 8, 2022 it became known about the investment of $1 million in Linguix. The most invested in the startup were venture capital companies Grishin Robotics Dmitry Grishin and Antler New York. Flyer One Ventures and several business angels also took part in the pre-seed funding round. More details here.

Exit the software developer's capital to create virtual people Ziva Dynamics

On January 24, 2022, Unity announced the acquisition of Ziva Dynamics, a company engaged in the revolutionary creation of digital characters. Grishin Robotics Foundation Dmitry Grishin withdraws from the software developer's capital. More details here.

2021

Investing in EdTech platform Kadama

In mid-June 2021, EdTech platform Kadama raised $1.7 million. The investment round was headed by Dmitry Grishin's Grishin Robotics Fund. Representatives of Alliance of Angels and other company executives also took part in the round. The funds will be used to stimulate the growth of the Kadama product due to gamification, short content and other features of the startup (weekly quizzes, game tournaments, etc.). More details here.

Investing in Club Feast food delivery service

On May 25, 2021, Club Feast announced the raising of $10.25 million. The funding round was led by venture capital firm General Catalyst. The deal was also attended by Dmitry Grishin's Grishin Robotics, Modern Venture Partners, Pika Capital and private investor Eric Feldman, who had not previously invested in Club Feast. More details here.

2020

Investing in the online training service Motify

November 17, 2020 it became known about the attraction of Motify investments in the amount of $3 million. The foundation of the co-founder of Mail.ru ServiceDmitry Grishin Robotics, as well as a number of other investors, invested in the Internet service for physical training. More details here.

Investing in Wise fintech startup

At the end of October 2020, Wise announced the attraction of $12 million in investments. The Grishin Robotics Foundation of Dmitry Grishin took part in the Series A funding round. More details here.

Launch of Grishin Robotics Fund II and raising $100 million for it

On June 18, 2020, Grishin Robotics announced the creation of a new fund for which $100 million was raised from institutional and private investors from the United States and Europe. Who exactly invested in the project is not specified. It is known that the new fund, called Grishin Robotics Fund II, was invested by the co-founder of Mail.ru ServiceDmitry Grishin (owner of Grishin Robotics). More details here.

Investing in Ziva Dynamics

On May 12, 2020, the developer of software for creating virtual characters from Ziva Dynamics films announced the attraction of $7 million in investments. The funding round was headed by the foundation of the co-founder of Mail.ru ServiceDmitry Grishin Grishin Robotics. Other investors included Toyota  AI Ventures and Millennium Technology Value Partners New Horizons. The volume of investments of each of the funds is not specified. More details here.

Zume Pizza reduced 67% of the state

In mid-April 2020, it became known about mass layoffs at Zume Pizza. The company has cut 200 jobs or about 67% of the total. Moreover, in January, about 400 working positions were already liquidated. More details here.

2019: Exit from the developer of routers eero

On February 11, 2019, the sale of the developer of routers eero to the Internet giant Amazon was officially announced. As a result of the transaction, the Grishin Robotics Foundation left the startup. More details here.

2018

Investment in Embodied

In June 2018, the developer of robot assistants Embodied attracted $22 million in investments from a group of investors, including the Grishin Robotics fund of the chairman of the board of directors of Mail.Ru ServiceDmitry Grishin.

The round was led by venture capital firm Calibrate Ventures. Jazz Venture Partners, Osage University Partners and Intel Capital also took part in it.  More details here.

Investment in Starsky Robotics

On March 9, 2018, Grishin Robotics announced an investment in Starsky Robotics, a developer of autonomous trucks. The total size of round A amounted to $16.5 million, among the other participants in the financing - Shasta Ventures (investor in Nest) and Y Combinator.

Grishin Robotics announces first "exit"

On February 28, 2018, the venture capital firm Grishin Robotics announced the sale of the Ring portfolio company, the developer of a line of smart devices that ensure the safety of the home (door lock, camera, etc.), Amazon Corporation. Grishin Robotics invested in Ring in March 2016 as part of the C funding round with a total volume of $61.2M. In total, since its founding in 2012, Ring has attracted about $210M - the company's investors also include DFJ, Qualcomm, Goldman Sachs, Virgin Group, Kleiner Perkins and others.

'This deal is one of the largest in the market over the past few years, along with the sale of Nest to Google, and Oculus to Facebook Corporation. M&A; activity in the sector, on which we decided to focus back in 2012, confirms the correctness of our rate. Despite such positive signals, the industry is still at an early stage of development, and future years promise to be no less interesting, "said Dmitry Grishin, founder of Grishin Robotics, co-founder of Mail.Ru Group

2017

Investment in Gobee.bike

On August 3, 2017, Grishin Robotics announced that it was investing in Gobee.bike, the developer and owner of Hong Kong's first network of smart bicycles. The venture capital firm acted as the leading investor in the round, which amounted to $9 million, closing the largest deal in its history.

Investment in Wonder

Grishin Robotics acted in June 2017 as the leading investor in Wonder's Round A of $14 million. The startup is working to create a new mobile ecosystem aimed at gamers and a wide audience of consumers of 'entertainment' content.

Investment in Spin

May 26, 2017 Grishin Robotics announces investments in the company. Spin The venture capital firm acted as the leading investor in the $8M round, closing the largest deal in its history. Among the co-investors of Grishin Robotics are Exponent (founded by Y Combinator graduates), CRCM (one of the leading early-stage investors focused on companies China and Silicon Valley), one of the founders of Quora and one of the first investors. Dropbox Spin is the fifth Grishin Robotics deal from the current $100M fund.

Investment in Starship

In January, Grishin Robotics announced an investment in Starship, the creator of the world's first local delivery system using autonomous mobile robots.

2016

Dmitry Grishin made the idea to adopt the world's first robotics law in Russia

In December 2016, the founder of Grishin Robotics, Chairman of the Board of Directors and co-founder of Mail.Ru Group developed a law on robotics. Prepared by Dmitry Grishin, the concept of the world's first full-fledged law on robots was sent for evaluation to leading scientific and expert centers in Russia and the world. It is intended to be the beginning of a discussion on legislative regulation in the field of robotics. If adopted, Russia may become the first state in the world in which relations with robots are regulated by law. Read more - Robots (robotics)

Grishin Robotics announces new $100 million fund

In April 2016, Grishin Robotics announced a new fund - four times the size of the previous one and one of the largest in the world. Capital will be used to expand the geographical and investment focus on the Internet of Things, private space, etc., in addition to traditional robotics, as well as to participate in larger rounds. In addition, Dmitry Grishin, the founder of Grishin Robotics, was joined by a new partner - Verdi Israel.

The initial fund of $25 million, announced in June 2012, was financed exclusively with the personal funds of the founder Dmitry Grishin. As part of the new fund, a number of institutional and individual investors from the USA and Europe joined it. Grishin Robotics offices will be located in San Francisco and London. The first deal of the new fund was the participation in round C of Ring, a developer of smart devices designed to ensure the safety of a house or apartment - in particular, an Internet-connected doorbell with video functionality.

Verdi Israel will bring to the Grishin Robotics team the rich experience of venture capital and private equity investments he acquired while working at DST and Goldman Sachs. Since 2009, he worked with Dmitry Grishin on numerous joint projects, the last few years - as a COO at Mail.Ru Group. Verdi Israel will work from the London office of the foundation, providing an additional presence in Western Europe.

Over the previous few years, Grishin Robotics has invested in 12 companies, both B2C (littleBits, Sphero, PetNet) and B2B (Spire, Double Robotics, Zipline). With new capital, Grishin Robotics plans to focus on Series A and B transactions, reserving up to $10 million for each company (including initial and possible subsequent investments) and more often than before, acting as a leading investor. A small percentage of the fund is reserved for interesting planting companies or, conversely, later stages.

2015

Grishin Robotics invested in littleBits

June 25, 2015 it became known about the investment of Grishin Robotics in the developer of the platform littleBits.

With this, the company entered into the largest deal during its existence. The total amount of the round of investments raised by littleBits amounted to $44.2 million. In addition to Grishin Robotics, the DFJ Growth, Two Sigma, True Ventures and Khosla Ventures funds participated in the round (Series B).

"World technological literacy is the ultimate goal of littleBits, which I fully share. In many countries of the world today there is a shortage of quality engineering personnel, and the products of such companies are becoming part of the solution to the problem, "said Dmitry Grishin

For Grishin Robotics, this is the ninth deal.

Investment in Occipital

On July 29, 2015, Grishin Robotics announced an investment in Occipital. At this time, the total size of the round (series B) amounted to $13 million. For Grishin Robotics, this is the tenth deal since the company was founded in 2012.

Grishin Robotics co-investors include Intel Capital, Intel Venture Capital, Shea Ventures, and Foundry Group.

"In the face of the Occipital team and co-investors, I am happy to find like-minded people who, like me, believe that a technological breakthrough in the field of computer vision will open up completely new prospects for the development of personal robotics. Technology and products developed by Occipital bring us closer to the moment when the many devices around us will learn to better understand and interact with the surrounding space. This will fundamentally change the life of each of us, "said Dmitry Grishin, co-founder and CEO of Mail.Ru Group, founder of Grishin Robotics

2014: Investment in Orbotix

On May 5, 2014, Grishin Robotics announced an investment in Orbotix, a developer of robot toys controlled by mobile devices and using augmented reality technologies. The total size of the round (Series D) was $15.5 million. For Grishin Robotics, this is the eighth deal, and the largest since the company was founded in 2012.

Among the co-investors of Grishin Robotics are The Foundry Group (investor FitBit, 3D Robotics, MakerBot, Zynga) and Shea Ventures (investor Salesforce.com, GigaOm and SolarCity). Orbotix plans to spend the funds raised on the development of new products and accessories, as well as on the launch of additional gaming applications for robots.

"Orbotix is a unique example of the synergy of robotics and the entertainment industry, which has every chance to change the traditional idea of ​ ​ toys and create a fundamentally new category of devices. A strong team has already managed to turn Sphero into a legendary product, and I have no doubt that the company's future developments have no less potential, "said Dmitry Grishin, co-founder and CEO of Mail.Ru Group, founder of Grishin Robotics

Robotics