Northern Gritstone
Assembly Line
World’s First “Universal” Robotics Software Platform BOW Raises £4 Million Seed to Reduce Cost and Complexity of Programming Robots
BOW, the universal robotics software company, has announced closing a £4 million seed round. The round was led by Northern Gritstone, the investment business focused on science and technology businesses in the North of England, 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 (LSE:RPI), as Chair of BOW’s board.
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.
Originally spun-out from the University of Sheffield in 2020, BOW is now working with Original Equipment Manufacturers, System Integrators and Software Development Houses who are using the platform and SDK to accelerate their robotics innovation and application development.
Partful’s 3D models ‘explode’, and so does its funding with €6 million secured to develop SaaS platform
Partful, a Manchester-based startup specialising in interactive 3D technology, has raised €6 million to accelerate the automation of its 3D aftersales SaaS platform for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The funding round was led by Northern Gritstone, with participation from Par Equity and US-based Blumberg Capital. This latest investment brings Partful’s total funding to €13.5 million since receiving €2.8 million in July 2023 and its first seed round in January 2022.
Since its inception in 2017, Partful has focused on creating user-friendly, accessible solutions to streamline aftersales operations for OEMs. Available in 71 languages, the platform seeks to reduces costly order errors, improves manufacturer revenues, and limit product downtime by enabling faster parts fulfilment and repair processes.
According to Partful, the manufacturing aftersales market is valued at €607 billion globally, and Partful’s technology is well-positioned to engage in its digital transformation. The platform has already been adopted by OEM customers such as Lotus, Lear, Kolpak, and Ideal Heating.