BOW, a robotics software company, has secured a combined £4 million seed round investment led by Northern Gritstone, the investment business focused on science and technology in the North of England and chaired by Lord Jim O’Neill. Co-investors include Finance Yorkshire and NPIF II – Praetura Equity Finance, which is managed by Praetura as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II.
Originally spun out from the University of Sheffield in 2020, BOW (Bettering our Worlds) offers a software platform that handles the complexities of robotics and allows developers to focus on innovation and creativity instead of technical challenges.
The robotics market is projected to reach $260 billion by 2030. However, application development and the productisation of robotics are currently being hampered by the complexity and cost of programming robots.
BOW’s ‘robot-agnostic’ software development kit (SDK) meets this challenge by bridging the gap between diverse robotic systems, enabling integration and operation across multiple platforms, regardless of operating system or manufacturer.
BOW is already on an exciting trajectory. Last month, the company announced that Raspberry Pi Co-Founder Liz Upton has joined the company as Chair of the Board. BOW is currently working with OEMs, software development houses, and research and development teams to address the core issues of portability between different makes and classes of robots.
The seed investment will be used to fund essential development in BOW and build the team.
The robotics market is growing fast, but that growth would be exponentially higher if the tremendous cost and complexity of programming robots were reduced. Robotics has an almost unlimited potential to help humanity solve global challenges, but the world simply can’t afford to wait for robotics to standardise around a single operating system and coding language. BOW’s universal software platform and SDK elegantly solve this intractable problem by enabling any software developer to program various types of robots using the coding language of their choice, make portable applications and enable easy interoperability between any make and model of robot. This £4 million seed investment, led by Northern Gritstone, will be used to build on our strong commercial traction to date, expand our brilliant team and accelerate our product development so we can unleash the full potential of robotics for the betterment of our world.
Nick Thompson, CEO
This investment is a defining moment for BOW. It not only validates our vision but also underscores the growing demand for cross-platform compatibility in robotics software. By simplifying robotics programming, we’re opening the door for all developers—not just roboticists—to shape the future of robotics. With BOW software, we’re enabling the 'there’s an app for that' revolution within the robotics industry.
Daniel Camilleri, Founder & CTO
Northern Gritstone is delighted to support BOW’s team, who once again demonstrate that world-leading technology businesses are being created in the North of England. BOW’s groundbreaking robotics platform is a perfect example of innovation in the region born out of the University of Sheffield’s world-class academic research.
Duncan Johnson, CEO of Northern Gritstone
It is fantastic to see this level of funding being invested into one of our spinout companies. Academics at Sheffield are working at the very forefront of their fields, conducting research that can underpin new businesses and help develop new market-leading technologies. Our University is one of the best in the country for developing IP and commercialising research and investment such as this from Northern Gritstone is crucial in helping our spinout companies grow.
Professor Sue Hartley, University of Sheffield
