Singapore's Wefaa Robotics receives seed funding to further transform STEAM education with its transformer robots

Singapore, Singapore May 3, 2024 (Issuewire.com) - Singapore-headquartered EduTech startup Wefaa Robotics has recently raised undisclosed seed funding to expand its market, as well as deepen its research and product innovation.

The investment, led by Zelos Megatrends Fund and SUTD Venture Holdings, will enable Wefaa to multiply its technological capabilities, strengthen the development team, and expand its product offerings. Wefaa will also invest in growing its customer base and establishing strategic partnerships to achieve sustainable success.

In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, and Mathematics) education, which focuses on integrating these subjects and promoting a more interdisciplinary approach to learning. The use of educational robots in the classroom has proven to be an effective tool to teach STEAM and to engage students in a variety of subjects. As a result, Wefaa has brought the first-of-its-kind Tetris-inspired transforming educational robots for education, research, training, competition, and product development.

This is why Professor Mohan Rajesh Elara, Co-founder and Scientific Advisor to Wefaa Robotics is grateful for the seed funding. He said: "We appreciate the confidence, trust, and support that our new investors have given to help us reach our milestones. Wefaa aims to transform STEAM and design education with our transformer robots and is looking forward to expanding our market footprint to over 30 countries in the coming year."

Wefaa's solutions are aimed at transforming STEAM education to positively impact the way youths are learning globally. The current product offerings include the Smorphi family of physical robots, the Smorphi Imaginary virtual robot platform, and a comprehensive learning curriculum option for all ages.

Said Mr. S Venkita Padmanabhan, Co-founder and Strategic Advisor of the Company: "We look forward to the adoption of over 1,000 units of Smorphi robots and 10,000 subscribers for our Smorphi Imaginary by 2025, marking a pivotal milestone that will showcase Wefaa's capabilities in transforming STEAM and design education. The capital infusion is crucial for us to take Wefaa Robotics to the next level. More importantly, we are happy to leverage the deep expertise and network of our new investors in nurturing the growth of technology startups."

Mr Zhang Wanjun, CEO of Zelos Megatrends Fund, is optimistic about the investment. He said: "Wefaa Robotics is the first Singapore-based project that Zelos has invested in, which represents our decision to support more local startups. The vision shared by the two founders to help students from different cultures learn robotics technologies and embrace the future resonates deeply with our mission.

"Our strategic investment in Wefaa reflects not only our support towards their mission but also our vision of continuous development for humanity," he added.

Professor Chong Tow Chong, SUTD's President said: "Wefaa Robotics is transforming STEAM education with Smorphi, an SUTD-designed educational robot, not only in Singapore but in 17 other countries in a short span of a few years. Its vision of 'one robot for every student is the future' truly resonates with SUTD's very own mission to redefine design, education, and research, and to nurture technically grounded leaders. What better way to do so than to start with the young? As such, SUTD Ventures has invested in Wefaa Robotics as it sees the potential it has to expand and innovate further."

To-date, Wefaa has sold over 300 Smorphi robots to educational institutions in 18 countries. Since the launch of its Smorphi Imaginary virtual robot platform in January 2024, the Company has been selling over 1,600 software licences for its virtual platform. Its current university clients include Georgia Tech in the United States, Zhejiang University in China, Shibaura Institute of Technology in Japan, RMIT in Australia, Amrita University in India, and Universitas Prasetiya Mulya in Indonesia among others.

Wefaa's robots are fast becoming a popular tool for STEAM education in K12 schools especially in China, India, and ASEAN markets. Beyond organizational adoption, more and more international robotics competitions such as RoboRoarZ, RoboCon, and Singapore's NRC are also adopting Wefaa's Smorphi robots as a standard platform onboarding thousands of participants annually to pit against each other with Smorphi robots.

About Zelos Smart-tech Fund

The Zelos Smart-tech Fund, established in Singapore two years ago, is managed by Zelos Venture Partners Pte Ltd, a venture capital fund manager (VCFM) licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The firm was co-founded by Mr. Zhang Wanjun and Mr. Fan Wuzhou, who are also executive partners at Shenzhen Magellan Capital Co., Ltd. The fund is dedicated to early-stage investments, focusing on technology startups within the realms of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, smart manufacturing, and renewable energy. Its geographical investment scope encompasses the Greater China region, the emerging Asia including ASEAN countries and India, and the United States of America (USA)

About Singapore University of Technology and Design

The Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) was one of the first universities in the world to incorporate the art and science of design and technology into a holistic interdisciplinary education and research experience. SUTD students thrive in a design-steeped environment and are encouraged to think creatively and innovatively to solve real-world problems. We leverage the power of deep tech like artificial intelligence to bring to life human-centric solutions using design and technology. This is what we call D.AI.Tech.

On 11 March 2024, SUTD unveiled a new growth strategy called SUTD Leap. By redesigning higher education with an even greater focus on D.AI.Tech, SUTD Leap aims to propel the university to the forefront of the design x tech space whilst nurturing the next generation of D.AI.Tech innovators and innovator leaders.

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Wefaa Robotics

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