Grishin Robotics invests quarter of a million into RobotAppStore, an online marketplace for robotics applications
December 10, 2012. Grishin Robotics (
http://grishinrobotics.com) announcing today its $250,000 investment into RobotAppStore (http://www.robotappstore.com). The parties do not disclose other terms of the deal.
RobotAppStore is the first online marketplace enabling users around the world to purchase and download hundreds of applications that extend the functionality of any types of robot – from Roomba vacuum cleaners and NAO humanoids to the AR.Drone quadcopter and Sphero (the robotic ball). Developers are encouraged to add their own applications to the marketplace (and receive 70% of future earnings). RobotAppStore supports the developers’ community with comprehensive knowledge base and programming manuals covering core topics of programming robots as well as opportunity to ask experts in programming of particular type of products.
RobotAppStore is hiring – those interested can get in touch with the company here http://www.robotappstore.com/Pages/Jobs.aspx.
The personal robotics market is a rapidly growing industry – estimated by ABI research to hit the $18 billion mark in 2015. According to RobotAppStore estimates, based on figures provided by UNECE, IFR, ABI Research and BCC Research, more than 30 million programmable robots have been sold to date.
“Robotics is a combination of good hardware and software – thus, the important role of a project like the RobotAppStore in the market ecosystem is unquestionable. The concept of ‘Cloud robotics’, which implies ability of all robots to connect to the internet, share a common knowledge database and seamlessly upgrade their functions in real-time, is a soon-to-be future; one reminiscent of the of personal computer industry. We believe that the strong team behind RobotAppStore coupled with their ability to leverage the advantages of having strong community already built around the product, can make this future closer”, said Dmitry Grishin, founder of Grishin Robotics, Co-Founder & CEO of Mail.Ru Group.
“The support provided by Grishin Robotics is a great vote of confidence in our plans for the company,” said Elad Inbar, Founder & CEO of RobotAppStore. “It shows their belief in our vision and the importance of the marketplace for robotics applications. The robotics industry has reached its tipping-point with broad market acceptance, usability of robots, and the ability to extend the robots’ capabilities. Being a part of Grishin Robotics’ portfolio provides high synergy with other robotics companies and better resource utilization. We are excited to use this funding to secure our place as THE market-leader of the consumer and educational robot-apps™ industry. I would like to thank our community of developers, and invite awesome and creative developers to join us!”
About Grishin Robotics
Grishin Robotics is a global investment company with a mission of advancing innovation in robotics for the mass consumer market. Grishin Robotics is focused on investing in personal robotics technologies. The firm is led by Dmitry Grishin, co-founder of Mail.ru Group. For more information, or to submit your company for investment consideration, visit http://www.grishinrobotics.com.
About RobotAppStore
Founded in 2011, the Robot App Store (http://www.RobotAppStore.com) is the first marketplace for robot-apps™. As an open market, it is one of the most important ingredients to the success of the domestic robotics world. The website offers applications for every robot, from vacuum cleaners to humanoid robots, and supports various platforms and operating systems. Using RobotAppStore.com, robot-owners can download apps for their robots and developers can earn money from their applications.