Exclusive: Niqo Robotics raises $9 Mn in a new round

Agritech robotics firm Niqo Robotics (formerly TartanSense) has raised Rs 74.7 crore or $9 million in a new round led by Brida Innovation Ventures. The fresh funding comes after a hiatus of three years for the Bengaluru-based company.

The board of Niqo Robotics has passed a special resolution to issue 8,577 preference shares at a price of Rs 87,090 each to raise Rs 74.7 crore, its regulatory filing accessed from the Registrar of Companies shows.

Bidra Innovation Ventures pumped in Rs 41.5 crore while exiting investor Omnivore Partners also subscribed to the round with Rs 33.2 crore.

As per startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, the company has been valued at around Rs 290 crore or $35 million (post-money).

Following the fresh proceeds, Omnivore Partners emerged as the largest external stakeholder with 25.7% followed by Brida Innovation and Blume Ventures which commanded 18% and 10.7%, respectively. Its sole founder Jaisimha Rao holds more than a quarter of the company. 

See TheKredible for the complete shareholding pattern.

Founded in 2015 by Jaisimha Rao, Niqo Robotics specializes in crafting compact agricultural robots empowered with AI-driven computer vision technology which claims to reduce costs and increase profitability.

The company announced its rebranding to Niqo Robotics in March last year.

Niqo Robotics has raised $16 million to date including its $5 million in Series A round from FMC, Omnivore, and Blume Ventures in August 2021. The firm also scored a $2 million Seed round in 2019.

While the company would disclose its FY24 numbers later this year, the nine-year-old firm’s Indian entity largely remained in pre-revenue stage with a revenue of only Rs 1.3 crore during FY23. At the same time, its losses spiked 2X to Rs 9.8 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2023.