Insider Brief
- Reliable Robotics said it has raised $160 million in funding led by Nimble Partners, with participation from existing investors Eclipse, Lightspeed, Coatue and Pathbreaker Ventures, along with new investors including Island Green Capital, Socium Ventures (Cox Enterprises), AE Ventures (a strategic partner of Boeing), RTX Ventures, Presidio Ventures (Sumitomo Corporation), UP.Partners, KAS Venture Partners, What If Ventures, Calm Ventures, Gaingels and Mana Ventures.
- The company said its Reliable Autonomy System is designed to enable fully automated aircraft operations and is being developed for FAA certification, with plans to integrate into existing aircraft and airspace, and more than 200 systems already committed by commercial and military customers.
- Reliable Robotics said it has been selected for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Advanced Air Mobility Integration Pilot Program and has a contract with the U.S. Air Force for autonomous cargo operations, with funding supporting hiring, production expansion and continued certification progress.
Reliable Robotics has raised $160 million in new funding to scale production and deployment of its autonomous aircraft system, with the round led by Nimble Partners.
“Aviation is vital to our economy and national security, but to meet demand it needs to be able to scale safely,” said co-founder and CEO Robert Rose said in the announcement. “Automation eases constraints, enabling us to realize greater levels of throughput at even higher levels of safety.”
The California-based company said its Reliable Autonomy System is designed to enable fully automated aircraft operations and is being developed for Federal Aviation Administration certification, with plans to integrate into existing aircraft and airspace without requiring changes to current infrastructure. Reliable Robotics added that it has secured commitments for more than 200 systems from commercial and military customers.
Reliable Robotics noted it was selected for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Advanced Air Mobility Integration Pilot Program and has a contract with the U.S. Air Force for autonomous cargo operations, both expected to begin this year. The company said the new funding will support hiring, expansion of production facilities and continued progress toward certification.
“The FAA is building the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world. Advances in autonomous technologies can only be made when they are certified and in alignment with the agency’s safety objectives,” former executive director of the FAA Aircraft Certification Service Lirio Liu said. “Reliable Robotics has demonstrated its ability to work toward the certification of its autonomy system with the highest levels of rigor.”
Along with Nimble Partners, existing investors Eclipse, Lightspeed, Coatue and Pathbreaker Ventures participated in the round, along with new investors including Island Green Capital, Socium Ventures (Cox Enterprises), AE Ventures (a strategic partner of Boeing), RTX Ventures, Presidio Ventures (Sumitomo Corporation), UP.Partners, KAS Venture Partners, What If Ventures, Calm Ventures, Gaingels and Mana Ventures.
