Formic Raises $27.4M, Continues Outfitting Manufacturers with Automation and Robotics Solutions

This past February (ahead of the then-approaching IoT Evolution Expo 2024; read here for info on the upcoming IoT Evolution Expo 2025, part of the #TECHSUPERSHOW experience), I penned an article that discussed Formic Technologies, a Chicago-based “Robotics-as-a-Service” company.

Formic was founded in 2020 with a clear mission: Create robotics and automation-centric solutions, and make them accessible for all U.S. manufacturing businesses. Formic delivers its offerings at low hourly rates (which, notably, factor into account 24/7 monitoring, full maintenance coverage and high-performing tech that doesn’t require large, risky capital investment in order to bring to fruition).

Formic had also released a suite of software tools designed to simplify and, subsequently accelerate, robotic automation systems’ deployment cycles. Formic’s software is based on the data and experience expertly gathered from, quote, “hundreds of thousands of hours of real production time across Formic fleets; froms state-of the-art Fortune 500 production facilities, to small thirty-person local manufacturing plants.”

Today, Formic continues working to fulfill its M.O. – to enable robotic automation for businesses of every size.

“As the labor shortage continues to impact U.S. manufacturing to the tune of more than one million jobs going unfilled, business leaders need to figure out how to get more out of what they have,” said Formic CEO Saman Farid, at the time. “Formic makes it easier for business leaders to adopt automation by leveraging the existing capabilities of their workforce to streamline production while improving safety, quality and throughput – all without any required capital expense.”

Its success hasn’t gone unnoticed.

In fact, the company recently announced it successfully raised $27.4 million in Series A financing. The round was led by Blackhorn Ventures, with additional participation from Mitsubishi HC Capital America, NEC, Translink Capital, Alumni Ventures, FJ Labs, Lux Capital, Initialized Capital and Lorimer Ventures. This new funding brings the total Series A round to more than $52 million since January 2022.

Melissa Cheong, Partner at Blackhorn Ventures, took away great positives from Formic’s progress.

“We continue to invest in businesses and technology that will rapidly unlock manufacturing capacity and create resiliency in the U.S. supply chain,” Cheong explained. “Working with Formic to augment front-line labor by democratizing access to automation is an actionable way for us to strengthen our industrial economy in real time.”

For more info on Formic and its milestones, read here.