Kensington Venture Fund is pleased to announce an investment in Clearpath Robotics Inc. (“Clearpath”), a global leader in unmanned autonomous vehicle research and development. The investment was made as a co-investment with portfolio venture fund iNovia Capital.
Clearpath has created the world’s first self-driving platform for material transport with a focus on self-driving vehicles for industry. Their core product line “OTTO” are self-driving vehicles designed to move materials through industrial warehouses, manufacturing facilities and distribution centres, assisting in increasing efficiency of material work flow.
OTTO fleets are coordinated by Clearpath’s sophisticated fleet management application and unlike other self-driving vehicles, they do not require navigation infrastructure as the vehicles use self-build maps with on-board lasers. They are also the only self-driving vehicles in market that have been safety-rated to operate on pedestrian pathways, creating significant advantages to re-route inefficient workflows and drive efficiencies. The next generation of OTTO designs will include add on modules such as lifts, carts and conveyors to further enhance their integration into factories.
With its headquarters in Kitchener, Ontario, Clearpath is led by three Mechatronic Engineers from the University of Waterloo: Matt Rendall (CEO), Bryan Webb (CFO & COO) and Ryan Gariepy (CTO). They have brought together a tremendous amount of engineering talent trained in robotics with a total of 56 engineers, including 8 PhDs.
Clearpath will use the funds towards expanding the Company’s office and warehouse space, increase product, sales and marketing teams and to acquire competitors.
We are excited to work with Clearpath as they continue to build out their self-driving platform and welcome them to the Kensington portfolio.