Gecko Robotics Inc., the developer of artificial intelligence-powered software and advanced robotics that work to maintain physical infrastructure for energy and defense projects that can be hazardous to humans, announced Tuesday it has raised $100 million in new funding.

The initial Series C round raised $73 million for the company last year from Drive Capital and billionaire Mark Cuban. This latest extension was led by two more billionaire-backed venture capital groups: Founders Fund, launched by Peter Thiel, known for founding PayPal Inc., and the US Innovative Technology Fund, a defense technology investor founded by Thomas Tull. Gecko said both investors would appoint representatives to the company’s corporate board.

The announcement comes a month after Gecko announced that it will assist the U.S. Navy with constructing nuclear submarines faster as part of the $132 billion plan to build new submarines. This includes the assembly of the upcoming Columbia-class nuclear-powered submarine fleet designed to replace the current Ohio-class, which expected to enter service in 2031.

“This investment is designed to help supercharge our work ensuring the critical assets that our military relies on to protect our national security are ready,” said Gecko Robotics Chief Executive Jake Loosararian. “From our work getting ships out of maintenance cycles faster to helping build the next generation of military equipment, Gecko is proud to be increasing our partnerships with the U.S. military.”

Gecko’s robots work at an intersection between artificial intelligence software and highly robust rovers that are capable of attaching to surfaces and applying scanners that can search for defects in industrial structures, equipment and infrastructure. They’re designed to enter into otherwise hazardous or small areas that human technicians and operators would not be able to easily enter and provide high-grade data and information about what is going on in and on equipment and infrastructure that can then be analyzed.

Robots can be deployed to scan the insides of silos, roll along the outside (or inside) of miles of gas and oil pipelines, and pinpoint corrosion, pitting and other damage that could be affecting the outer or inner surface. Using sensor data, digital twins – virtual representations of the infrastructure with included data – can be spun up in the cloud along with data insights to stay ahead of potential maintenance and repair needs to catch problems before they become critical problems.

In late October, the company released Cantilever, what the company calls an “industrial asset management solution” that can collect together data collected by drones, robots and fixed sensors into a historical health record and operational data to create holistic data for AI-powered analysis about a site. This provides businesses and organizations the ability to make insightful decisions about what’s happening at their site regarding maintenance, emergency repairs, sustainability and efficiency.

The U.S. Navy is an early adopter of Cantilever, using the new technology to address potential maintenance issues to create repair plans in minutes, a process that traditionally took teams weeks or months to prepare and complete. Other industries have begun to put the technology to work on infrastructure to assist with optimizing spending, extending the lifetime of assets and prioritizing maintenance spending to reduce costs and improve safety.

“Gecko Robotics is solving a problem that does not get enough attention,” said Trae Stephens, partner at Founders Fund. “Maintenance is often overlooked but it can mean the difference between having the military assets we need to respond to a national security threat or not.”

Photo: Gecko Robotics