Monday, July 11, 2011

CyPhy Works whips up $1.2M in new funding

By Rodney H. Brown

Startup CyPhy Works Inc., a maker of small unmanned flying robots to be used for infrastructure inspections, has raised $1.2 million in a new round of funding, according to federal documents.

The company, previously located in Framingham, but now listed as based in Danvers in the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, raised its first round of institutional funding in February of 2010, bringing in $1.8 million. General Catalyst Partners of Cambridge counts CyPhy Works as a portfolio company, and managing director and co-founder of General Catalyst John Simon holds that firm’s position on CyPhy Works’ board.

The remainder of the four investors in the round were not named in the SEC filing. Prior to taking its first round of VC money, CyPhy Works was backed mostly by federal grants, including a $2.4 million research award from the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology.  On the General Catalyst website, CyPhy Works is listed as developing its technology for both commercial and defense clients.

Also listed as a related person in the filing is Anita Jones, an unmanned aerial vehicle expert who retired from the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science in January of 2010. Jones is tagged as a director at CyPhy Works.

CyPhy Works was founded as The Droid Works in 2009 by iRobot Corp. co-founder Helen Greiner, who stepped down from her position as chairman of the board at iRobot in October of 2008.  Greiner and fellow iRobot co-founder Colin Angle were both named Mass HighTech All-Stars in 2007. As to the change from Droid Works to CyPhy Works, Greiner said in a previous interview that she didn’t want people to start thinking of Droid cell phones when her company was mentioned.