Rivian has created its second spinoff company this year: an industrial AI and robotics venture called Mind Robotics.
The new effort will be focused around using “industrial AI to reshape how physical world businesses operate and leverage Rivian operations data as the foundation for a robotics data flywheel,” according to a the company’s third-quarter shareholder letter published Tuesday. (That’s a mouthful of buzzwords; we’ve asked Rivian to clarify things a bit more and will update the post if it does.)
Rivian said Tuesday it has secured around $110 million in “external seed capital,” but did not immediately offer any other information about Mind Robotics. “We believe AI-enabled robotics can support a wide range of industrial applications,” Rivian wrote in the letter.
The launch of Mind Robotics marks the second time this year that Rivian has created a new standalone company. In March, the company spun out its skunkworks micromobility division into a startup called Also Inc. That new company was funded in part by money from Eclipse, with additional funding from Greenoaks Capital.
A trademark application for Mind Robotics was submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Monday that lists Eclipse partner Jiten Behl as a signatory for the newly-created company, along with Eclipse’s Palo Alto headquarters as the corporate address. Behl did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It’s unclear if Rivian employees are moving over to Mind Robotics, like was the case with Also. A Rivian spokesperson declined to say. But the company hinted at the possibility in Tuesday’s letter.
“With our strong bench of technology talent and an innovation-driven culture, we have been able to identify additional areas of value to accelerate our mission on a wider scale while maintaining Rivian’s focus,” Scaringe wrote
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Robotics and industrial AI are hot areas for investment right now. There is a slew of humanoid robotics companies raising money and trying to ship products, including Tesla. General Motors is working on its own robotics and AI division, too.
Beyond Rivian’s announcement Tuesday, though, very little is known about what Mind Robotics will get up to. There is essentially no digital footprint for the company yet, save for the trademark application. That application is very broadly targeted and says Mind Robotics could use the trademark for everything from machinery, to vehicles, to “incubators for eggs.”
