Fenox Venture Capital from Silicon Valley led a series A-financing extension round for Jibo. The goal is to facilitate Jibo’s expansion into the Asian scene. Japanese conglomerates Sega Sammy Holdings (video game, slot machine, resorts) and CAC Holdings (IT services) also joined Fenox as limited partners.
Jibo was created by Cynthis Breazeal, a professor from MIT and a pioneer of social robotics. Jibo was first introduced into the public scene when they opened a crowdfunding campaign in Indiegogo for it. From the goal of only $100, 000, the campaign attracted more than $3.7M from backers.
This social robot can be used as a personal assistant, cameraman and digital companion. It can learn an individual’s preferences and habits, communicate alerts and reminders, can pick-up voice commands, and capture pictures and videos.
“[Jibo] wants to go big in Asia, as evidenced by the the local partnerships it’s creating,” Anis Uzzaman, general partner and CEO at Fenox, shared. “In Japan, it wants to be a Japanese robot. Sega knows how to create unique characters and stories, and they will be able to help make Jibo truly Japanese, not just an American robot in Japan.”
