Formant
About
About Formant
Formant provides a cloud operations layer for robots already deployed in the field. A lightweight device agent ingests ROS and non-ROS telemetry, video, location and application data, while templates and bulk provisioning bring similarly configured machines into service. Operators can group mixed devices and compare live and historical streams through dashboards, maps and three-dimensional views of paths, point clouds and robot state.
Alerts turn thresholds or events into notifications, commands, configuration changes or requests for human judgement. Encrypted WebRTC connections support remote driving, camera control and recovery when autonomy needs assistance, and analytics track uptime, incidents and resolution time across sites. APIs and Python and TypeScript SDKs let teams embed custom interfaces or connect operational data to other systems. BP has used Formant to centralise inspection and teleoperation for Spot robots at offshore facilities.
Supply
Supply chain relationships
- SoftBank Robotics America
Outbound - Software - Formant supplies robot fleet-management software for SoftBank Robotics America robot fleet
Source
Funding
- 2023-10-11 - $21M - Formant closes $21M round for robotics data platform
Formant completed a $21 million funding round led by BMW i Ventures to scale its robotics data and operations platform. - source: intelcapital.com
- 2022-01-05 - Series A - $18M - Formant closes $18M Series A for robot fleet software
Formant completed an $18 million Series A round to expand its cloud platform for managing heterogeneous robot fleets. - source: robotics247.com
Investors
- BMW i Ventures - Lead - VC - 1 funding event - first seen 2023-10-11
Team
- Jeff Linnell - Founder & CEO - Linnell brings robotics-software and cloud-infrastructure background to the Formant operating platform for managing fleets of deployed robots.
Timeline
Events
- 2024-10-31 - Partnership - Holman adopts Formant for robot fleet and data management
Holman planned to use Formant's platform for robot fleet and data management. The partnership combined cloud robotics operations software with fleet-management services experience.
Source - 2023-12-21 - Partnership - SoftBank Robotics America selects Formant for robot management
The partnership targeted deeper integration across SoftBank Robotics America's portfolio of work-transformation robotics solutions. SoftBank Robotics America cited more than 20,000 robots deployed across its broader robotics business.
Source - 2023-10-11 - Funding - Formant closes $21M round for robotics data platform
Intel Capital and GS Futures joined the round alongside existing investors including SignalFire, Holman, Ericsson, and Goodyear Ventures. Formant said its platform powered tens of thousands of field-deployed robots. The capital supports commercial automation and autonomous-system workflows as Formant moves toward broader commercial use.
Source - 2022-01-05 - Funding - Formant closes $18M Series A for robot fleet software
SignalFire led the round with participation from Hillsven, Pelion, Goodyear Ventures, Thursday Ventures, Ericsson, Picus Capital, and Holman Strategic Ventures. Formant said the capital would support nationwide growth and serving robotics companies scaling fleets.
Source
Relations
Relationships
- SoftBank Robotics America
Robot Management Integration - SoftBank Robotics America selects Formant for robot management
- Holman
Partner - Holman and Formant partnered on cloud robot-fleet and data management, combining software with fleet-services experience.
Context
Comparable profiles
- Zhongyi Embodied
stack adjacency - Robot Fleet Monitoring
- Cogniteam
stack adjacency - Robot Fleet Monitoring
- Avea Robotics
stack adjacency - Robotics Teleoperation Infrastructure
- Logibot
stack adjacency - Robotics Teleoperation Infrastructure
- ToolSense
stack adjacency - Robot Fleet Monitoring
- Ottopia
stack adjacency - Robotics Teleoperation Infrastructure
- Avidbots
stack adjacency - Robot Fleet Monitoring
- Nucleus Robotics
stack adjacency - Robotics Teleoperation Infrastructure
- AVITA
stack adjacency - Robotics Teleoperation Infrastructure
Shared workflows
- WiTricity
workflow adjacency - Fleet Uptime Infrastructure
- Wiferion
workflow adjacency - Fleet Uptime Infrastructure
- InOrbit.AI
workflow adjacency - Fleet Uptime Infrastructure
- Hertz Global Holdings
workflow adjacency - Fleet Uptime Infrastructure
Context tags
- Robot fleet operations - Capability - Formant supports production fleet operations and incident workflows.
- Robot Fleet Monitoring - Stack Layer - Formant provides cross-vendor fleet observability.
- Robotics teleoperation infrastructure - Stack Layer - Remote intervention and teleoperation are core platform functions.
- Fleet Uptime Infrastructure - Workflow - The platform focuses on production reliability and field issue resolution.