Bristol, RI, June 21, 2022 – Jaia Robotics, Inc., an aquatic robotics company specializing in the development of micro-sized, high-speed, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) announced today that it has raised over $1 million in seed funding. Jaia Robotics, Inc. was founded in 2020 by Ian Estaphan Owen, CEO, and Jason Webster, CTO. Both Estaphan Owen and Webster had extensive experience in the Blue Tech industry before starting the company to develop a new micro-sized, configurable, low-cost autonomous underwater vehicle. The multi-sensor platform called JaiaBot provides for the collection of large amounts of data in various ocean and freshwater aquatic environments for multiple applications. The JaiaBot micro-sized AUV can form mobile networks allowing larger numbers of vehicles to be deployed for greater coverage of an area while significantly reducing data collection time and cost. The system is designed for ease of use and requires minimal training yet has wide-ranging capabilities. 

Funding for JAIA Robotics, Inc. was obtained in a Series Seed Round led by Launchpad Venture Group, alongside Blue Angels, Cherrystone, Walnut, and prior to that Beacon Angels and several individual investors. 

“Close one of our Series Seed Round is extremely timely as we build our team to seize the opportunity to democratize aquatic data collection at scale and grow the business. I would like to thank Launchpad, Blue Angels, Cherrystone, Walnut, and Beacon Angel groups as well as the individual investors for their belief in Jaia Robotics and our disruptive approach of using pods of low-cost aquatic drones to deliver big data,” said Estaphan Owen. “This investment in Jaia Robotics is a strong show of confidence in the company as an investment opportunity and has led us to keep the round open for 90 days leading to a second close to bring us nearer to the $1.75M ceiling. This will allow us more flexibility and to really accelerate growing our team.” 

Alexander Brown, Launchpad’s Managing Director shared “Launchpad Venture Group and its members are absolutely thrilled to be joining Ian, Jason and the Jaia Robotics team on the journey to unlock new frontiers of fresh and salt water monitoring and measurement.” 

About Jaia Robotics, Inc.: US owned, Rhode Island based, founded in December 2020. Jaia Robotics specializes in developing low-cost, high-speed, micro-sized autonomous marine vehicles called JaiaBots. JaiaBots are multi-sensor configurable and make aquatic data collection affordable and available for all that need it. Jaia Robotics also provides comprehensive aquatic data collection services – JaiaBots as a Service (JaaS) – for customers who need the data and don’t want to make a capital investment. 

To learn more about Jaia Robotics, click here

About Launchpad: Boston-based Launchpad Venture Group is a diverse 180-member network of talented Angels that has been successfully investing both financial and human capital in over 200 New England-headquartered tech-enabled startups since 2001.