Vention is creating bodily AI to unify and speed up deployment of robotic workcells. Supply: Vention
Bodily AI, the union of synthetic intelligence and robotics, is transferring towards wider use. Vention Inc. at present mentioned it has raised $110 million ($150 million CAD) in Sequence D funding to advance its analysis, add capabilities to its software program, broaden its portfolio of pre-engineered purposes, and develop its presence from North America to Europe.
Conventional automation is advanced and requires loads of integration work, based on the Montreal-based firm. Vention mentioned its Zero-Shot Automation platform combines {hardware}, software program, bodily AI, and cloud connectivity to allow sooner and extra scalable automation of manufacturing in assist of reshoring.
“Producers not need automation that requires deep experience and lengthy commissioning cycles,” said Etienne Lacroix, CEO of Vention. “They need automation that works as intuitively and reliably as trendy software program. Bodily AI is permitting us to ship precisely that.”
Vention playbook contains 4 targets
“We’re making automation extra accessible by transferring integration actions to our on-line platform,” Lacroix instructed The Robotic Report. “We’re going to make use of the the funds to energy 4 playbooks. The primary is serving enterprise shoppers.”
“Vention has grow to be a regular inside enterprises — 40% of our income comes from firms with $1 billion or extra in income,” he mentioned. “Prior to now, automation was decentralized, with separate integrators. Enterprises ended up with orphan machines with spaghetti code.”
Many producers need turnkey choices, by which all the things on the manufacturing unit ground is ruled by standardized platforms whereas retaining entry to knowledge fashions, digital twins, and code, defined Lacroix.
Vention’s second playbook is to proceed commercializing bodily AI from its roots in analysis and improvement. “We’ve all the time been an innovation powerhouse — that’s why NVIDIA joined as an investor; it noticed how briskly we’re transferring in actual industrial use instances,” mentioned Lacroix.
NVIDIA final 12 months partnered with Vention on movement management and imaginative and prescient AI, and the companions plan to announce new merchandise quickly, he added. Vention has launched automated configuration instruments, an AI agent for outlining machine specs, a robotic programming co-pilot, and AI-powered robotic purposes. It claimed that these instruments can cut back automation venture timelines from months to days.
The third playbook is to construct depth in Vention’s “end-to-end” providing.
“We’re the broadest industrial tech stack,” Lacroix asserted. “We do design, programming, simulation, ordering, deployments from the cloud and digital twin to the ground, plus the working layer and teleoperation. We’re not the deepest in all these verticals, however we’re persevering with to construct that depth.”
The fourth playbook is Vention’s growth in Europe. The corporate has about 310 workers and has 30 open positions. In 2025, it added senior venture managers and U.S.-based salespeople and buyer success staff members. Vention additionally invested into bodily AI researchers final 12 months.
Producers demand reliability, pace
Vention serves 25 discrete manufacturing industries, mentioned Lacroix. Promising segments this 12 months embody protection, knowledge heart and AI, and end-of-line automation.
“We’ve folks within the U.S. licensed to serve closely regulated protection shoppers,” he famous. “Protection is making an attempt to maneuver quick in Canada and Europe, and an entire class of startups is rising. There are already a number of winners in drones and submarines.”
“We don’t manufacture hyperscalers, but it surely seems that loads of their cooling techniques are actually assembled in Vention-automated meeting strains,” added Lacroix. “We’re placing loads of emphasis this 12 months on bodily AI, as a result of we are able to determine a strategy to take the expertise in its present state and create a 99% dependable utility on the pace of a human.”
“If a producer is working two shifts, it wants to determine a strategy to deploy bodily AI for roughly $150,000,” Lacroix mentioned. “Bodily AI utilized to manufacturing can grasp and place bodily objects very exactly. We’ve good traction in client packaged items and with Fortune 500 firms. They’ve principally brownfield services however need modular automation that may be deployed rapidly.”
He mentioned Vention’s tech stack is robot-agnostic, offering robotic compatibility with out the necessity to tweak robotic drivers. The corporate began 10 years in the past with the Robotic Working System (ROS), which was well-built however sluggish, recalled Lacroix.
“Each half-second counts,” he mentioned. “We constructed a extra environment friendly robotic management layer to be 1:1 with robotic planners. They will’t reside in controllers, they should be within the cloud. The techniques on the manufacturing unit ground must run on the similar pace as native planners.”
Vention stays centered on generalizing its platform
New and present buyers in Vention included Investissement Québec, Desjardins Capital, sure funds managed by Constancy Investments Canada ULC, and NVentures (NVIDIA’s enterprise capital arm).
“We’re fairly excited to succeed in this milestone and have raised $260 million in complete capital,” mentioned Lacroix.
Whereas humanoid robots and generalized AI have garnered loads of consideration currently, Vention is staying centered on robotic arms and autonomous cell robots (AMRs). It has deployed greater than 25,000 machines worldwide in over 4,000 factories.
“We’ve discussions on a regular basis about humanoids particular to manufacturing,” Lacroix acknowledged. “We checked out generalized platforms for fit-for-purpose workcells and mentioned, ‘Let’s not generalize the robotic, however generalize the platform to guide fit-for-purpose robots.’”
“Vention’s AI pipeline makes use of sturdy fashions for real-time collision avoidance and pose estimation that we couldn’t have dreamed of only a 12 months in the past,” he mentioned. “We’ll have a stream of bulletins within the coming months, and we’ll be at GTC, Automate, and IMTS, in addition to Pack Expo and Hannover Messe.”
