Robotics startup wins $425,000 at Grand Rapids pitch competition
Courtesy photo
A Detroit-based robotics manufacturer took home $425,000 at the PitchMI Startup Competition’s Defense & Aerospace semifinal held at Grand Rapids Civic Theatre, advancing to the statewide championship for a chance to win an additional $1 million.
Common Vector Robotics (CVR) earned the top prize following a competitive pitch event in Grand Rapids. The company received $375,000 through the PitchMI semifinal prize and an additional $50,000 from 20Fathoms, a Northwest Michigan startup incubator and hub for entrepreneurship and innovation.
“It’s incredible to build in Michigan and to be with all my other fellow founders building in the same space,” said Arnold Kadiu, Founder of Common Vector Robotics. “I really wasn’t expecting the check. This is going to be huge for our business to grow and get it to that next stage.”
PitchMI is one of the nation’s largest founder-focused startup competitions, designed to identify, support, and invest in promising Michigan startups through a statewide competitive process. Startups from across Michigan can apply to compete in a semifinal event aligned with their industry focus.
A $500,000 statewide co-investment from Anchor Up Ventures, Kalamazoo Forward Ventures, JM Longyear and ID Ventures increased each semifinal prize from $250,000 to $375,000. Winners from each of the four semifinals advance to the PitchMI Championship, where they will compete for an additional $1 million.
“Being in the PitchMI space is really exciting, just the energy of all these startups pitching,” Kadiu said. “I hope for a lot more competitions like this, to allow a lot more companies to grow and succeed.”
Based in Detroit, CVR is a full-stack robotics manufacturer that develops rugged ground robots for critical operations on and off the battlefield. The company builds key components in-house, including battery packs, battery management systems, motor controllers, electronic control units and suspension systems.
CVR’s signature products include Ghostrunner, a high-speed, off-road robotic platform designed for rugged field operations including distributed sensing, mobility, communications support and field logistics. Built around CVR’s vertically integrated hardware stack, Ghostrunner is designed to operate in environments where infrastructure is unavailable.
The company also produces GL-1, a 400-kilogram autonomous base designed to carry equipment such as robotic arms, sensor masts or racks into the field. The platform uses Visual SLAM for navigation, can be supervised from a single command center and features a modular power payload of up to 27 kWh to power the equipment it carries.
Organized by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the MSU Research Foundation, PitchMI provides capital, evaluation, and visibility to Michigan startups while supporting founders building businesses in the state. Learn more at https://msufoundation.org/pitchmi/.
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