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On the 29th, Nichietsu, a company specializing in heavy-duty robotics, announced the final close of its Series A round. The third-party allocation of shares was underwritten by JP Investment (JP Investment Regional & Impact Fund No. 1 Limited Partnership), bringing the total amount raised in this round to ¥500 million. The company is a startup developing mold exchange devices equipped with autonomous driving functions for molding factories. It aims to automate the entire process from mold removal to transport, exchange, and re-storage in molding machines, addressing the severe labor shortages and reducing the risk of industrial accidents in manufacturing sites. The company offers mold exchange devices touted as the world’s smallest and fastest and trackless mold transport carts, aiming to replace the traditional process of exchanging molds using cranes, thereby enhancing safety and productivity. The funds raised will be allocated to accelerate the research and development of autonomous mold exchange devices, strengthen mass production systems, and recruit talent. The company plans to launch mass production in 2026 and intends to expand its business domain beyond molding factories to automation and unmanned solutions across the entire manufacturing industry in the future. In the first half of Series A, the company received investments from Abies Ventures (Abies Ventures Fund II Limited Partnership), KSP (NextG Investment Limited Partnership), and Mizuho Capital (Mizuho Growth Support No. 5 Investment Limited Partnership), and has also announced achieving profitability in the previous fiscal year. via PR TIMES
