Genrobotics, a Trivandrum-based robotics startup, has raised Rs 2.5 crore in a pre-Series A round led by existing investors Unicorn India Ventures. Anand Mahindra, who has invested in his personal capacity, has also joined as a new investor in this round along with SEA Fund.

Founded in 2015, Genrobotics is widely known for making Bandicoot, the fully automated manhole cleaning robots, and has already been working with the Centre and State Governments to help eradicate manual scavenging from India.

The startup has deployed Bandicoot robots across 11 states in the country and hundreds of sanitation workers went through the rehabilitation process. Soon after implementation at Coimbatore smart city, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs suggested and quoted Bandicoot 2.0 as an example for enabling zero human intervention in the sewerage cleaning process.

“There’s a lot of nervousness about the role of robots and AI in the future. But frankly, if robots can liberate people from this most degrading job in the universe, then I promise I will discard any doubts and always pray at the shrine of technology and robotics,” said industrialist Anand Mahindra.

The startup said the funds raised would be used for further scaling up production of Bandicoot to meet the growing demand in light of eradicating manual scavenging and to develop new products and R&D to leverage the technology for the healthcare segment.

Vimal Govind, Co-founder CEO, Genrobotics, said,

"Mr Mahindra has offered his full support on implementing Bandicoots in each and every corner of India for putting an end to this dehumanising activity completely. [It] has accelerated the process of [switching from] manual scavenging to robotic scavenging.”

According to Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, Genrobotics had developed a globally relevant product and was already in talks with some international governing bodies for its deployment.

"We have decided to back them up with additional funds to facilitate their expansion plans,” Joshi said.