SoftBank Vision Fund to Join $300 Million Round in Robot Startup
- The Chinese startup’s CFO expects to triple revenue in 2019
- Cloudminds expects to sell a half-million robots this year
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SoftBank Vision Fund is joining a $300 million investment in Cloudminds, helping the Chinese robotics and artificial intelligence startup ramp up production capacity with the goal of tripling its revenue this year.
Cloudminds, which last raised money in 2017 at a $440 million valuation, aims to sell half a million of its robots this year to Chinese customers from banks and malls to hospitals, Chief Financial Officer Richard Tang said in an interview. The latest funds will bankroll, among other things, the expansion of a $20 million production line it’s building in Shanghai that should kick off output in June or July, he said during the Credit Suisse Asian Investment conference.