Kibitech Secures Funding from Sumitomo Corporation and Others to Accelerate On-Site Automation Through Integrated Robot Control

Funding Overview

Kibitech, a startup developing and providing a robot remote control and integrated management platform, has secured funding with Sumisho Venture Partners (the corporate venture capital arm of Sumitomo Corporation) and JIC Venture Growth Investments serving as co-lead investors. Through this investment, Kibitech will leverage the business infrastructure and expertise of the Sumitomo Corporation Group to further strengthen its business deployment.

About Kibitech

Kibitech was founded primarily by alumni of the JSK (Inoue-Inaba Laboratory) robotics lab at the University of Tokyo. Its flagship product, HATS (Highly Autonomous Teleoperation System), is a software platform capable of connecting and controlling robots of any manufacturer in an integrated manner. It supports coordination with higher-level systems such as WMS (Warehouse Management Systems) and MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems), facility equipment like elevators, and AI, thereby supporting comprehensive on-site automation.

Purpose of Funding and Future Outlook

While on-site automation has been advancing against the backdrop of a severe labor shortage, standalone equipment automation has its limits in improving productivity. In particular, improving the efficiency of labor-dependent tasks such as transportation, patrols, and monitoring remains a challenge. Kibitech aims to bridge these gaps in automation through "HATS" and achieve comprehensive labor savings on-site. With this new funding, the company plans to utilize the Sumitomo Corporation Group's network to promote the widespread adoption of its vendor-free integrated platform and advance operational sophistication through the application of AI.