Global accelerator SparkLabs said on the 1st that it has made a seed investment in RB-Ware, a company that builds no-code welding and grinding collaborative robot systems. Global hardtech accelerator SOSV also joined the round. The investment totaled 900 million won (about $640,000).
Founded in 2022, RB-Ware develops and supplies RB-MIG, a welding and grinding collaborative robot system that shop-floor workers can operate without writing any code. The company focuses on addressing labor shortages at manufacturing sites caused by the aging and retirement of skilled welders.
Based in South Korea, RB-Ware has expanded into 16 countries, including Turkey, the United States and the Netherlands. It supplies its products through a network of 21 partner system integrators. As of September this year, cumulative installations worldwide exceeded 250 units.
RB-Ware has also been expanding into shipbuilding and heavy industry this year. In February, it signed a proof-of-concept contract for autonomous robotic grinding with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri Group.
Through the investment, RB-Ware was also selected for HAX, SOSV's accelerator program for hardtech startups. The company plans to focus on entering the U.S. market and developing RB-AW, an artificial intelligence-based autonomous mobile welding robot. Over the longer term, it aims to build an Autonomous Welders as a Service, or AWaaS, model that supplies autonomous welding robots on a service basis.
"We decided to invest because RB-Ware has built a track record of global supply with a no-code welding solution that shop-floor workers can easily use," SparkLabs CEO Kim Yu-jin said. "We expect the company to advance its autonomous welding technology based on the field experience and partner network it has secured through its existing products, and to expand its business into the global shipbuilding and heavy industry markets."
