Path Robotics, an Ohio startup that builds AI to let robots weld, has raised $300M in a Series E round at a $2.45B valuation.
Georgian, a growth equity firm (an investor that backs companies already past the early stage) focused on AI, led the round, the company said. Bloomberg reported that the deal nearly quadruples Path's valuation. By that math, the previous figure sat somewhere above $600M. Path's existing investors include Addition, Drive Capital, IronArc Ventures, Tiger Global and Yamaha.
Welding is a useful test for AI in factories. Conventional industrial robots are typically programmed to repeat a fixed motion, which works when every part is identical and the setup never shifts. Welding real parts is messier, and Path's pitch is that software can handle the variation so a robot does not need to be reprogrammed for each job.
The size of the round is the more telling detail. A Series E is a late-stage raise, and $300M at this valuation puts Path in the same funding territory as the better-known AI software companies, but with a product that lives on a factory floor. Investors are paying for a robotics company at a multiple of its earlier price in a single round.
The open question is how much of that price assumes welding is only the first job. If the same approach carries over to other manufacturing tasks, the valuation looks like a down payment on a larger market. If it stays a welding company, $2.45B asks a lot of one trade.