Founder x Investor: Fundraising for Robotics & Physical AI
🚀 Building a robotics company or looking to invest in the future of robotics?
Raising investment for robotics comes with a unique set of challenges. Founders need to prove more than the strength of the technology. Investors also need to understand the real-world use case, customer demand and how the company will build, deploy and scale.
We’re bringing together two investors and two robotics founders for an honest conversation about what it really takes to build and fund a robotics company.
We’ll discuss the traction investors expect, how to know when you’re ready to raise, what makes a robotics startup stand out and the realities of taking your technology from prototype to real-world deployment.
You’ll hear from:
👉 Thomas Crow: VC Investor at Fabric Ventures, investing in companies building the future of AI, robotics and the machine economy.
👉 Kunmi Oludoyi: Founder of Sorair Technologies, using autonomous drones and AI to improve security and safety across industrial sites.
👉 Paul Dominick Baniqued: Founder of Mile Robotics, building immersive games and simulations that prepare robots for real-world deployment.
👉 Dominic Keem: founder and CEO of Britbots/Star Bot Funds, a specialist investor backing UK robotics, AI and automation companies. Britbots supports founders building technologies that improve productivity
Agenda:
9:30am - 10.00am: Registration & Breakfast
10:00am: Doors close and no entry after
10:00am - 11.00am: Panel & Q&A
11:00am - 12.30am: Networking - your chance to connect with our panel and other ambitious founders.
What we’ll cover:
What investors look for in robotics and physical AI companies
The traction and technical milestones founders need before raising
Moving from a prototype to real-world deployment
Finding the right first customers and use cases
Hardware development, manufacturing and scaling challenges
Building a robotics company that can become a large, fundable business
About our hosts
IDEALondon and WilbeLABS
This event is hosted at IDEALondon, part of UCL Engineering, which is a workspace and community for early-stage deeptech companies in Shoreditch.
Managed by WilbeLABS, IDEALondon provides flexible workspace, founder support and community programming for founders, researchers and operators.
Learn more about the IDEALondon community, events and membership.
About Grishin Robotics Accelerator
The Grishin Robotics Accelerator is London's highly selective, one-month intensive program dedicated to pre-seed and seed tech startups.
We're now accepting applications for GRx Accelerator 5th Cohort, November 2026.
Apply now 👉https://www.grishinrobotics.com/accelerator
Grishin Robotics is an early-stage Venture Capital firm based in Silicon Valley. We back founders of consumer and consumerized enterprise startups that disrupt large and growing markets.
The fund has backed category-defining companies such as Ring (acquired by Amazon for $1B), Spin (acquired by Ford), Zipline (autonomous drone delivery), Starship (last-mile delivery robots), Sphero (robotic toys), and Eero (acquired by Amazon). We invest in Seed and Series A startups targeting large consumer markets such as online entertainment, gaming, food, education, team productivity and collaboration