Chennai-based global tech company Zoho Corp invests Rs 20 cr in Genrobotics

Zoho Corp, the Chennai-headquartered global technology company, announced on Wednesday that it has invested Rs 20 crore in Genrobotics, an Indian startup involved in the design and development of robotic solutions to address the most relevant social issues such as hazardous working conditions.

Zoho's investment will assist Genrobotics in its mission to eradicate manual scavenging in India and provide safety and dignity to workers in sanitation and oil and gas industries. This investment reflects Zoho's mission to nurture the development of a deep-tech ecosystem in the country, a company statement said.  

Genrobotics' primary offering is the Bandicoot robot, the world's first robotic scavenger, which helps clean confined spaces such as sewers, sewer wells, storm water manholes, oily water sewers (OWS) and storm water sewers (SWS) in refineries. Currently, smart cities, urban local bodies (ULBs), refineries, multinational companies, townships and housing colonies across 14 states are leveraging Bandicoot robots, thereby eliminating the need for human entry into manholes.

Genrobotics has recently ventured into healthcare and launched a robot-assisted gait training solution — G Gaiter — to aid the recovery of people with paraplegia through improved rehabilitation experiences. Genrobotics products are completely designed and manufactured in the country.

"Nurturing a thriving deep-tech ecosystem in India is one of Zoho's priorities, and the investment in Genrobotics is a continuation of that commitment," said Sridhar Vembu, CEO and co-founder of Zoho Corp. "Building such technological competencies and critical know-how locally can help foster sustainable growth across key sectors, like industrial manufacturing, healthcare, and energy, in turn making the country economically stronger and self-reliant,” he added.  

“Making this a reality requires focused, long-term investments that support home-grown deep-tech startups through intensive R&D and engineering phases, and enable them to bring their ideas to the market. Looking at how far they have come already in this journey, Genrobotics' vision resonates with us at Zoho and we are happy to fast-track their efforts and support them in their mission to end manual scavenging,” he said.