Energy Robotics raises $13.5M to bring autonomous inspection to critical infrastructure

AI software platform for autonomous inspection with robots and drones Energy Robotics, has raised $13.5 million Series A.

It offers a full-stack, hardware-agnostic AI autonomy platform for fleet management in critical infrastructure.

Autonomous robots and drones powered by Energy Robotics’ platform perform essential daily and hourly tasks, including visual inspections, thermal scans, and leak detection, eliminating the need for humans to enter dangerous environments while keeping proprietary data secure. 

By automating these tasks, worker safety is improved, human error is reduced, and more frequent data can be collected. This proactive approach leads to more efficient maintenance and less plant downtime overall, increasing operational reliability and productivity.

Energy Robotics has completed over one million inspections across five continents, saving 32,000+ hours of hazardous human labour for customers across oil and gas, industrial, chemical, and utility sectors, including Shell, BP,
Repsol, BASF, Merck and E.ON.

Existing infrastructure and industrial facilities are confronting two major challenges: a shrinking skilled workforce and increasingly complex, ageing equipment that requires specialised maintenance. 

Energy Robotics addresses this through its AI software platform for autonomous robots and drones that cuts operating costs by up to 40 per cent while significantly enhancing worker safety.  

"This funding round will help us scale autonomy to serve the world's most critical infrastructure, giving energy, chemicals, utilities, and security operators greater resilience, safety, and efficiency," said Marc Dassler, CEO and co-founder of Energy Robotics. 

"A skilled workforce retires, and many of the world's most vital energy and chemical assets are decades old, requiring more frequent and intricate monitoring, inspection, and maintenance. This combination creates a perfect storm of operational risk.

Our platform provides a timely and scalable solution, enabling customers to not only maintain but also improve operational efficiency and safety, while actively mitigating the challenges of this workforce transition."  

Energy Robotics AI-powered fleet orchestration software eliminates the need for fragmented tools, with key features that include:

• Hardware-Agnostic Operating System: Seamlessly integrates with 8 leading robots and drones and OEM hardware manufacturers (e.g., Boston Dynamics, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, DJI), giving customers the flexibility to build mixed fleets without vendor lock-in;
• AI-Powered Analytics: An advanced AI analytics library interprets multimodal sensor data, from gauge readings to leak detection, continuously learning and improving with every mission.
• Simple, LLM-Driven Mission Control: Integrated large language model system enables operators to simply prompt the platform to generate and execute inspection tasks across entire fleets of robots and drones;
• Real-World Data vs. Synthetic Data: Fleet orchestration and autonomous operations are based on millions of data points gathered in complex, dynamic real-world facilities such as refineries and power plants.
• Evergreen Digital Twin: Each inspection mission automatically updates a live, evolving digital replica of facilities, providing real-time visibility and predictive insights that feed directly into customer ERP, CMMS, and digital twin platforms; and
• Data Privacy & Cybersecurity: Energy Robotics strengthens cybersecurity and data sovereignty by providing a platform that keeps sensitive inspection data within customer-controlled IT systems, independent of vendor-specific software platforms.
   

The Series A was co-led by Blue Bear Capital and Climate Investment (CI) , with participation from Futury Capital, Hessen Capital, Kensho VC, and TADTech. The funding will accelerate the commercial deployment of Energy Robotics’ software across energy, chemicals, industrial, and security sectors.

"The industrial robotics market has reached an inflection point," said Cindi Bough, Managing Director at Climate Investment:

"Energy Robotics has built an AI software platform that orchestrates diverse fleets of robots and drones, integrates seamlessly with existing enterprise workflows, and delivers actionable data services at scale today. 

Also, Energy Robotics delivers climate impact by using autonomous robots to spot gas leaks early, so harmful emissions are fixed before they escape into the atmosphere.  This is why we are excited to co-lead their Series A investment."    

"The global energy transition relies on a more resilient, efficient, and secure infrastructure,” said Dr Carolin Funk, Partner, Blue Bear Capital.

“Energy Robotics' autonomous inspection platform, powered by AI, directly addresses this need. It provides a scalable solution that improves the safety and operational efficiency of key energy and industrial assets, while taking advantage of the global robotics expansion."