Hey friends - new month, new robotics newsletter! Make it so. 🤖 🚀
Kicking the month off with three big ideas, followed by a fund update. Our news rollup lands later this month. Thanks for all the feedback on the new 2x monthly format - it’s a winner!
Big Idea #1 | Europe + robots = winning! 🇳🇱🇨🇭🇩🇪 🇬🇧
We recently toured Europe - thanks to our hosts! We started in Delft - saw robots automating a greenhouse and swung by the TU Delft robotics department and RoboHouse. Then we headed to Zurich, where we saw cute security robots, logistics and drone startups, and visited with folks at UZH and ETH. Then off to Munich, meeting with warehouse and logistics robotics companies, lunch with investors, angels, and founders, and an afternoon at TUM.
We ended up in London for ICRA, where we saw our friends from Viam, caught up with former colleagues from Google Research and DeepMind, and met a ton of founders.
TechCrunch recently wrote that Europe could be on the cusp of a golden era in robotics and we agree. We saw impressive academics spinning out exciting startups, dense populations experiencing labor shortages, and a societal focus on tackling climate change and sustainability.
Big Idea #2 | The Law of Infinite Opportunities 🤖 📈 🦄
The Law of Infinite Opportunities should be a thing. Lots of doomerist folks worrying about AI and AGI and job losses due to automation. We disagree - we’re in the Marc Andreeson camp here.
Smart folks agree:
Sam Altman & Erik Brynjolfsson want productivity growth,
Josh Wolfe posted about MATTER that MATTERS
Benedict Evans pushed back on AGI doomerism
Steph Smith nailed it re: Jobs of the future
Follow us and join the discussion!
Big Idea #3 | Robotics media is on fire 🤖 🎙️ 🔥
We joined Mitch on the Robot Revolution podcast. We discussed growth and opportunities in robotics and automation, what we look for when investing in the space, and why Abe is a techno-optimist. Full episode is here.
We were interviewed by While I Build This - we covered the traits of stellar teams, Abe’s background as a fishing boat captain, and where we are looking for robotics solutions. Interview is here.
Great folks are writing great stuff - our friend Oliver thinks deeply about automation here. Benjie writes about general purpose robots. The case against the case against Marc Andreeson’s essay was also fun. China’s BYD argues autonomous vehicles are basically impossible. Brian is still killing it at The Actuator. And The Economist dug in on the global fertility collapse - reminding us the future must be automated!
Big Idea #4 | The cake is still a lie 🦾 🎂
We still don’t have four big ideas - totally tapped out at three! Ok, not really - but we don’t want to lose your attention. We appreciate that so many of you open this and read it - thanks for being part of the story!
As always, enjoy 🤖💡🔥!
~Abe
PS - If you have a moment of energy left - after all this fun - please help us find new friends - forward our newsletter to five friends 💌, send us ♥️ on Twitter - abemurray / alley_corp and LinkedIn - Abe / AlleyCorp Robotics ✨
AlleyCorp Robotics | fund update
Mapless in the news! - demos and grants 🤖 📰
Mapless AI receives Phase II SBIR from NSF - funding supports GTM and scalable deployment of safe vehicle teleoperation for shared mobility and fleet logistics
Mapless AI visits Motor City - demos and more at Newlab Detroit’s mobility showcase with top Tier 1 suppliers, vehicle OEMs, and fleet operators experiencing driverless valet parking and vehicle hailing
Two new portfolio companies! - we’re actively investing 🦄 💰
New companies aren’t public yet - will share in an upcoming drop
So many amazing founders building businesses with impact
We’re at 11 investments in our first 14 months of existence
Our companies are hiring - come build the future! 🤖 🛠️
aescape, ARIX, Civ Robotics, Earth Force, Mapless, and Renovate are all looking for great folks!
Robot events rock - May was “conference month”
Join Viam for a Simone Giertz AMA in their Viam Discord (virtual): 6/14 at 5 pm EST
Join the Open Lab - Flutter at Viam’s HQ in NYC: 6/15 from 6-8 pm ES
Watch Eliot’s keynote at the recent virtual Reddit Summit
We sponsored Robotics Invest in Boston alongside friends at Cybernetix and F-Prime
We joined the Robotics Summit & Expo for Eliot’s talk on The Era of Robotic Unicorns
We judged the Phoenix Contact Startup Challenge at Automate - congrats ESTAT!
Have news & events to share? - Let us know!
Email us with your announcements, open roles, opinions, and/or cute animal pictures.