COSY just raised $2.35 million

Pennovation-based robotics startup COSY just raised a $2.35 million seed round by Intel and San Francisco-based venture firm GreatPoint Ventures, with participation from Safeguard Scientifics and Ben Franklin Technology Partners.

COSY CEO Jonas Cleveland dropped the bombshell at last night’s When Innovation Meets Capital event, hosted by Safeguard and the Penn Center for Innovation. Cleveland, who led the company’s spinout from Penn’s GRASP lab, praised the Penn ecosystem and Philadelphia’s talent pool for their role in the capital raise.

.@cosyrobo Cofounder @1ClevelandJonas: "COSY is very much a baby of @Penn's @GRASPlab." pic.twitter.com/ElNodMjnUu

— Technical.ly (@Technical_ly) February 16, 2017

The money will go to further develop COSY’s flagship technology platform Scout, which relies on artificial intelligence, machine vision and freakin’ robots to streamline stocking process for brick-and-mortar retail companies.

“COSY has an opportunity to be a real home run.” said Safeguard CTIO Scott Snyder. He said COSY represented an “inflection point” for Penn’s tech transfer strategy.

“This is also an inflection point for this technology,” Cleveland adds. “All of robotics requires understanding the world the way humans do. And that’s where COSY comes in.”

As for Laurie Actman, Chief Marketing, Communications and Program Officer at the Penn Center for Innovation, news like this sizeable capital raise validate the Pennovation Center’s mission.

“COSY’s is the kind of story that proves the Center’s concept: It’s research from the University’s community brought to market to solve problems,” Actman said.

We can’t help but agree, at least in part: COSY has been able to twist its University-built technology offering as the needs of the market change. From a beacon-based navigation tool for mall-goers to the current platform that earned the trust of companies like Walgreens.

What’s the challenge? Turning the COSY story into a recurring tale across different spaces of technology.

Whaddya know. Our realLIST awardees just keep on shining.

P.S. It would be wise to listen closely to what Cleveland has to say about how Philly tells its own story.

Interesting insight here on what Philly can do to keep @1ClevelandJonas and @cosyrobo here: pic.twitter.com/68OG5m1Yiu

— Technical.ly (@Technical_ly) February 16, 2017