India based Haber has just closed its Series B taking its total funding raised to date to $27 million. Haber develops AI-driven industrial robots which automate the tedious manual process of sample collection, measurement, analysis and intervention at factories.
Currently, the majority of industrial activities, though driven by machines, require intense manual monitoring and is dependent on scarcely available human experts. As industry scales to meet growing demand, this further accentuates the problem leaving industries at the mercy of few skilled experts. If interventions are not done on time it affects productivity and quality and results in overuse of resources leading to escalating costs and severe environmental impact.
This is where Haber identified an opportunity to fill the gap through artificial intelligence. Haber’s unique solution not only enables industries to scale but also drive sustainability, solving two key global issues.
Manual processes are slow and inaccurate leading to overconsumption of raw materials, water and energy. In the long run, it also affects the equipment effectiveness thereby demanding frequent maintenance breaks in the absence of which energy consumption and carbon emissions increase. Most industries are affected by these inefficiencies and have been unable to meet their production and sustainability goals.
“With a deep understanding of AI and the functioning of industries, Haber has been able to put together a solution that automates the entire process. Our flagship product, eLIXA, was launched in 2017 which enables our customers to meet their sustainability and profitability goals,” mentioned VipinRaghavan, Founder and CEO of Haber. “Testing and taking corrective actions, which earlier used to take hours, has now been reduced to few minutes with a significant increase in accuracy.
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Ascent Capital was the lead investor in the Series B funding and was joined by Accel, Elevation Capital, Beenext, Temasek partner Mukul Chawla and the founders of GreyOrange, another robot as a service company, SamayKohli and Akash Gupta. Accel had led their Series A funding which took place in 2019.
“Industrial automation is the next big global opportunity and we are excited to partner with Haber, a leader in this space. Haber has a compelling value proposition, with its superior proprietary technology, exceptional multi-disciplinary team and deep subject expertise, to disrupt this space not just in India but globally. Going forward, not just productivity but sustainability and environmental consciousness will play an equally important role in decision making, which puts Haber at a distinct competitive advantage” mentions Raja Kumar, founder and CEO of Ascent Capital. Haber has helped its customers save fifty billion litres of water and eliminate half a million tons of carbon emissions. Reducing carbon emissions is one of the key environmental issues, which will even take the limelight at the COP26 summit in November 2021.
VivekMathur partner at Elevation capital also mentioned that Haber is driving the change in the manufacturing industry from the forefront through its customer-friendly technology. One can now focus on strategic planning and action while Haber collects and processes data and uncovers hidden potential.
Joining hands with HABER, Pratik Agarwal, Principal at Accel said, “Unless shortcomings in the manufacturing sector are being worked upon, we cannot grow exponentially. Haber has brought forward a well designed AI solution that supports manufacturing in battling resource shortages and inefficiencies, boosting the economy. While there’s a lot of noise around AI, they are one of the few teams that have delivered tremendous customer value and it’s evident from their fast-growing deployments.”
Going ahead the company will use the fresh funding to expand its reach across new geographies and industries, with a goal to save over 400 billion litres of water in the next two years and to deploy over 10,000 eLIXAs in the next 5 years.
