Robot guard dogs help Asylon raise a $26M Series B

Philadelphia-based robotics firm Asylon introduced Tuesday that it raised a $26 million Collection B led by Perception Companions, with participation from Veteran Ventures Capital, Allegion Ventures, and the GoPA Fund.

Asylon started as a drone firm for securing services. It’s greatest recognized for a drone that has a robotic arm that may change its personal batteries.

Nevertheless it additionally has a robotic guard canine service referred to as DroneDog. Asylon takes the famed Boston Dynamics robotic canine Spot and modifies it for guard work and to combine with its command-and-control Guardian software program. Asylon presents the drones, canine, and software program as its robotic security-as-a-service (RaaS).

A website could be secured with floor patrols by way of robotic canine and flying cameras that cowl extra areas than stationary cameras. DroneDogs could be despatched to locations unsafe for people or actual canine. And so they can carry out nearly canine sniffing-like duties reminiscent of detecting fuel leaks or harmful chemical compounds. 

The corporate, which was based in 2015, hasn’t raised a lot enterprise capital previous to this in contrast with different drone and robotics firms. It beforehand raised about $21 million, plus some authorities grants, bringing its whole raised to about $45 million, founder CEO Damon Henry advised TechCrunch.

Whereas Henry described fundraising as laborious, after the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December, firms have elevated spending on CEO residence and facility safety, reminiscent of DroneDog. Its RaaS can value about $100,000 to $150,000 a 12 months — akin to hiring a human bodyguard service.

“I went to an occasion final summer time, a New York Tech Week occasion, and I occur to have met each investor that’s within the spherical at that occasion,” Henry stated. When he determined to boost, he already had heat intros with traders who had been conscious that safety spending is rising.

Henry and his two cofounders, Adam Mohamed (CTO) and Brent McLaughlin (COO), had been dorm roommates at MIT. However not like the traditional Silicon Valley story, they didn’t drop out. They went to work as aerospace engineers after commencement for firms like GE Aviation, Boeing, and Johns Hopkins Utilized Physics Laboratory.

In 2015, the three pals noticed Amazon announce its drone supply service and had been impressed. They give up their jobs and based Asylon. By 2019 that they had their first buyer: Ford.

And in 2021, the startup nearly suffered a swift demise. Ford had agreed to allow them to do a stay demo occasion displaying how their drones labored at its facility. A gaggle of Fortune 500 had signed as much as see the demo, Henry recalled. 

The night time earlier than the occasion, the drone crashed and was destroyed. Henry noticed his firm flash earlier than his eyes: a ruined status. No prospects. The top.

A devoted worker drove all night time to ship one other drone, however the founders had valuable little time to get it operating. Miraculously, they did, and it labored flawlessly through the occasion.

“The system flew constantly, completely all day lengthy,” he stated. “It gained us our subsequent three prospects — Fortune 500 prospects. After which the identical day concurrently, we truly gained our first DoD contract for the drones.”

The founders have been fastidiously rising the corporate ever since. Asylon now employs 65 and has techniques deployed in 15 states, he stated.