BOW, a universal robotics software company, has announced closing a £4 million seed round. The funding round was led by Northern Gritstone with co-investors Finance Yorkshire and Praetura Ventures as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II. This news follows the appointment in November 2024 of Liz Upton, Co-Founder of Raspberry Pi, as Chair of BOW’s board.
The full potential of robotics is out of reach for most companies and independent developers due to the high cost and complexity of programming robots – which is a task that currently requires the expertise of specialized roboticists. The applications developed successfully for one model of robot lack portability to different makes of robot, further slowing down robotics innovation and adoption.
The BOW platform – which stands for Bettering our Worlds and the BOW robot-agnostic software development kit (SDK) solve this industry bottleneck, making it possible for the first time to program different robots using the operating system and programming language of choice. With BOW, any software developer can rapidly create and deploy robotics applications, quickly port applications between different makes of robots, and manage and orchestrate robot fleets. By removing the need for highly specialized robotics programmers, BOW’s universal robotics platform allows generalist software developers to create, manage, and deploy complex robotics applications and opens up valuable new use cases in sectors previously underserved by robotics. Robots running the BOW SDK benefit from ultra-fast communications and the platform’s AI capabilities.
Originally spun out at the University of Sheffield in 2020, BOW is now working with original equipment manufacturers, system integrators, and software development houses, which are using the platform and SDK to accelerate their robotics innovation and application development.
KEY QUOTES:
“Northern Gritstone is delighted to support BOW’s team, who once again demonstrate that world-leading technology businesses are being created in the North of England. BOW’s groundbreaking robotics platform is a perfect example of innovation in the region born out of the University of Sheffield’s world-class academic research.”
- Duncan Johnson, CEO of Northern Gritstone
“The robotics market is growing fast, but that growth would be exponentially higher if the tremendous cost and complexity of programming robots were reduced. Robotics has an almost unlimited potential to help humanity solve global challenges, but the world simply can’t afford to wait for robotics to standardize around a single operating system and coding language. BOW’s universal software platform and SDK elegantly solve this intractable problem by enabling any software developer to program various types of robots using the coding language of their choice, make portable applications, and enable easy interoperability between any make and model of robot. This £4 million seed investment, led by Northern Gritstone, will be used to build on our strong commercial traction to date, expand our brilliant team, and accelerate our product development so we can unleash the full potential of robotics for the betterment of our world.”
- Nick Thompson, CEO of BOW
“This investment is a defining moment for BOW. It not only validates our vision but also underscores the growing demand for cross-platform compatibility in robotics software. By simplifying robotics programming, we’re opening the door for all developers—not just roboticists—to shape the future of robotics. With BOW software, we’re enabling the ‘there’s an app for that’ revolution within the robotics industry.”
- Daniel Camilleri, CTO and Founder of BOW
“It is fantastic to see this level of funding being invested into one of our spinout companies. Academics at Sheffield are working at the very forefront of their fields, conducting research that can underpin new businesses and help develop new market-leading technologies. Our University is one of the best in the country for developing IP, and commercializing research, and investment such as this from Northern Gritstone is crucial in helping our spinout companies grow.”
- Professor Sue Hartley, Vice-President for Research and Innovation at the University of Sheffield
