North Vancouver-based artificial intelligence (AI) company Novarc Technologies Inc. today said it has received $50 million in funding to improve the robotic welding system it calls NovAI.
Investors in the Series B funding round include Export Development Canada (EDC) as well the private U.S.-based investment firm Graham Partners, the B.C.-based shipbuilder Seaspan and the B.C.-based strategic investment fund inBC Investment Corp.
NovAI enables robots to see and adapt as though they are expert welders, according to Novarc.
By using machine vision, deep neural nets for perception and real-time adjustments, NovAI eliminates the need for workers to do prescanning and robotic reprogramming. That ensures consistent, high-quality welds in any condition, according to Novarc.
Its NovAI Autonomy product is set to be commercially available in summer 2025.
The plan is for the funding to propel the company’s research and development.
NovAI is expected to increase industrial productivity with high quality, efficient work that could shape the next era of manufacturing.
“This new capital from this oversubscribed round will enable us to accelerate our product development, expand our market presence, and continue delivering innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers," said Novarc CEO Soroush Karimzadeh.
"Continued support is a testament to the confidence our investors have in our mission to revolutionize the welding industry through advanced automation solutions,”
BIV reported in 2023 that Novarc received $2 million from the federal government's Pacific Economic Development Agency (Pacifican) to scale up its business and expand into new markets. BIV yesterday reported on seven new Pacifican investments in B.C.
"We believe Novarc's technology will be a catalyst for significant advancements in the industrial manufacturing sector, addressing the critical need for automation," said Guillermo Freire, senior vice-president, mid-market group, at EDC.
Graham Partners managing principal Dennis Dunegan similarly said he was excited with his firm's investment in Novarc.
"We remain highly impressed by both the exceptional team and innovative technology that are driving advancements in the welding industry with AI and robotics," he said.
Seaspan has been a strategic partner and investor in Novarc since 2017.
The shipbuilder was an early adopter of Novarc's welding-automation technology, first by installing Novarc’s spool-welding robot at Seaspan's Vancouver Drydock site and recently at its Victoria Shipyards.
Tony Winter, vice-president and general manager at Victoria Shipyards, said he had seen "significant productivity and quality improvements in our pipe shop."
He added that his workforce has "embraced" Novarc's robot-welding technology.
Investors have similarly cuddled up to AI-powered humanoid robots.
Some industry insiders say they believe robots will take over and handle most tasks, leaving humans to only perform activities that they want to perform.
Others foresee AI nibbling away at pieces of jobs, or specific tasks within jobs that employees currently perform. That could result in one person being able to complete work that currently requires dozens of workers.
Sanctuary AI CEO Geordie Rose, whose Vancouver company makes humanoid robots, said in a speech at an AI conference last year in Vancouver that demographics are driving the need for AI-powered humanoid robots, which can think and act like people.
After all, the globe’s human population is shrinking, he said.
Canada’s fertility rate hit an all-time low in 2022, when Statistics Canada calculated that the average Canadian woman had 1.33 children—lower than at any time in more than a century of data, and a 7.4-per-cent decline from 2021. That was the largest annual decline in 50 years.
Back in 1960, the average Canadian woman bore nearly four children.
“The reason is access to technology and education,” said Sanctuary AI CEO Geordie Rose, whose company has so far produced seven generations of humanoid robots, though none that fully think and act like humans.
“When people have the choice to not have children, they choose not to have children.”
Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos is among other investors who have joined forces to pour billions of dollars into a humanoid-robot venture known as Figure AI. One of those investors, Vancouver-based KITS Eyecare Ltd. CEO Roger Hardy, told BIV last year that his capital investment so far is $3 million.
