I’m certain the group at RoboDeck is sick and uninterested in individuals referring to their robotic is a “Roomba for decks.” However we did so in our write-up when the Israeli agency competed in Startup Battlefield, and I’ve simply executed so above. It’s a fairly memorable pitch as these issues go. The system is designed for upkeep — a fairly annoying a part of proudly owning a deck (I’m instructed) — making use of a sealant to the floor of the wooden to assist it climate a spread of out of doors circumstances.

At present the corporate introduced a pre-seed spherical of $2 million, arriving slightly beneath two years after it appeared on the Disrupt stage. SOSV led the spherical this day out and was joined by Scalar Ventures and Etz-Ve-Etza, together with quite a lot of non-public traders.

The corporate cites pandemic-fueled curiosity in automation as a key driver within the funding. The post-pandemic workforce crunch can be a motivating issue as the corporate eyes industrial purposes for the system — similar to workplace buildings, boardwalks and eating places, successfully any out of doors wood floor that’s giant sufficient to make upkeep a real nuisance.

The system is able to treating as much as 1,000 sq. toes in round 20 minutes — one thing that may take people considerably longer to attain. The sealant is an “environmentally pleasant” materials devolved together with Cabot, a New England agency that has been within the wooden care recreation for 140-plus years.

“RoboDeck boasts a formidable shopper portfolio, together with Cal Preserving — California’s largest deck upkeep firm,” the corporate notes in a launch, “SVB Financial institution places of work in San Jose, The Tel Aviv Municipality, Azrieli Group, Ariel Properties of Electra Group  — Israel’s largest property administration firm, Bezeq, Herbert Samuel Motels, Hadassah Medical Heart and others.”

A few of the funding will go towards increasing an especially lean 10-person group at present break up between Israel and L.A. RoboDeck is particularly hiring for its operational and R&D groups, because it appears to scale its system into broader manufacturing according to present demand.