Last week, we wrote about how LG had acquired a majority stake in Bear Robotics. The news was a big deal in that Bear provides LG with a foundation for robotics business across the consumer and commercial spaces, so I thought I would catch up with the company's founder at CEO, John Ha.
“But the really important story is not about 51% acquisition. It’s more about we are acquiring their robotics business,” said Ha. “Among LG conglomerates, we’re the ones who’re going to carry on with the robotics business globally. And that’s, I think, the really major news item.”
That Bear was inheriting LG’s robotics business was hinted at in the coverage, but in our interview John made it clear that Bear will be steering the strategy and technology development going forward for the entire company.
Another surprise from our interview? That Bear is planning to still IPO in the future.
From Ha: “We have enough funding to put into R&D, and then we’re planning for an IPO as our next step. We can probably break even in two to four years.”
A key component of the partnership will be adapting Bear Robotics’ platform to develop robots for additional sectors, including factories, warehouses, and even the home. While LG has previously shown consumer-friendly robotic concepts at events such as CES, Ha believes Bear Robotics’ software expertise will likely accelerate the commercialization of home-oriented robots.
“For us to get into new areas and make breakthroughs is so much easier now…LG has a lot of plans for the home. We can help them save time and improve their products to get to market faster.”
Ha noted that because Bear was one of the pioneers in this space of service robots, he believes his company can serve as a well-established partner for other robotics companies that want to integrate their solutions into new verticals.
“We are opening our platform,” said Ha. “We already have around a little bit over five companies working together. They’re using our platform to build their robotics applications. And they can sell through our network. They can use our installation service or tech support. It’s still early stage, but I think it makes sense
Subscribers to Spoon Plus can watch the full conversation and read the transcript to our interview with John Ha.
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