[Webinar] Interview with Akara Robotics CEO

Welcome to Chapter 2 of our webinar series Robot Makers.

Together with the innovators, this series explores the journey, the challenges, and the enablers for robotics innovation. It provides an insight into each phase of a robotics business, from R&D spin out to a consolidated company. The series aims at providing a good mixture between technological development and entrepreneurship support. So, if you want to learn about robotics innovations, the people behind them, and their stories, this webinar is for you. In case you missed Chapter 1 of Robot Maker series, you can watch it on-demand here.

Let’s get a deeper understanding of what the journey looks like for those who dare to create.

Our second guest on the series is Dr. Conor McGinn, CEO of Akara Robotics. Conor is a pioneer in assistive robotics and was featured in the MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35. Working in Trinity College he spinout Akara. The Irish company captured the public’s attention with their humanoid robot Stevie, a robot designed to support elderly care featured in TIME magazine. Today, their UV robot Violet was awarded more than €2.4M in funding through the highly competitive EIC program. The company has won several awards due to their work including recently the 2022 CIO & IT leaders awards for Pilot Project of the Year.

Having completed seed and series A funding, Conor will share with us the challenges for robotics companies raising funding and its advice. Join us to explore the amazing story of this company.

In this webinar, you will learn all about raising funding:

• Explore the journey of raising funding for a robotics startup
• Get advice on the do and don’t when looking for investment opportunities
• Understand some of the implications that funding brings
• Discover two pioneer robots for the healthcare sector; Stevie and Violet