Robotgalaxy raises $5m round B - robot design shops
Robotgalaxy raises $5m round B - robot design shops
by limor
Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:00 pm
The .COM era of the robots has come upon us? Where can we get some of this funny money at inflated valuations going to the likes of Robotgalaxy, Ugobe and Aldebaran?!?!?
Retail businesses are normally valued at 1X revenue, at $27-$80 per item they have to sell..... 800,000 items in a given year to justify the valuation.
thats 2200 items/day or 366 items in every effective hour of the average 6 operating hours per weekday of the shop (when kids might come with their parents to the mall).. 6 per minute. ok lets say they open 5 more stores, thats still 60 items/hour per shop. which is unheard of. Following this line of thought, if their profit margin per item is 35% and their operating expenses for 6 stores in busy malls and TV advertisement costs $4m, thats $4m profit so for investors to see returns through dividends they will have to wait many years before this chain becomes the next toys-r-us.
Retail businesses are normally valued at 1X revenue, at $27-$80 per item they have to sell..... 800,000 items in a given year to justify the valuation.
thats 2200 items/day or 366 items in every effective hour of the average 6 operating hours per weekday of the shop (when kids might come with their parents to the mall).. 6 per minute. ok lets say they open 5 more stores, thats still 60 items/hour per shop. which is unheard of. Following this line of thought, if their profit margin per item is 35% and their operating expenses for 6 stores in busy malls and TV advertisement costs $4m, thats $4m profit so for investors to see returns through dividends they will have to wait many years before this chain becomes the next toys-r-us.
Robotgalaxy Inc., which operates retail stores where kids can design and construct their own robots, said it has raised $5 million in Series B financing to help fund expansion and the launch of its new virtual online game.
The company, founded in October 2007, operates two stores in malls - one located in Freehold Raceway Mall in New Jersey, the other in Palisades Center in New York - that let kids assemble, program and activate their own robots from thousands of combinations. Robots range in price from $27 to $80. The company also launched a quarterly comic book series featuring the robot characters and a Web site with an online store.
Robotgalaxy said it is developing an online virtual world that will connect to the user's personalized robot via a USB cable. Once connected to the virtual world, users will enter the "Space Station" where they will be able to go on quests with their robot and battle other online explorers, the company said.
Bachmann Industries Inc., a strategic manufacturing partner for Robotgalaxy, invested in the round, along with a group of individuals from the retail, entertainment, video game and finance sectors, according to a company representative. The company previously raised $7 million from these investors.
The latest round gives Robotgalaxy a $25 million post-money valuation, the representative said.
by limor
Thu Sep 18, 2008 1:17 pm
maybe the time is right to raise some investment money for "robotics".
I tried in the past and no one wanted to touch retail and toys.
'flying cars, time machines and robots' as one of the VCs eloquently put it.
There are hardly any startups in the toy industry comparable to the thousands of software, alt-energy and bio-med-device startups.
I'm now working with MechRC (see the forum posts) which is a proper robot-toy startup and it is one of its kind and has gone through years of engineering, cost reduction re-engineering, living in factories in China etc. no fun compared to some .COM startups that raise $3.4m for breakfast and can't even explain what they do.
I tried in the past and no one wanted to touch retail and toys.
'flying cars, time machines and robots' as one of the VCs eloquently put it.
There are hardly any startups in the toy industry comparable to the thousands of software, alt-energy and bio-med-device startups.
I'm now working with MechRC (see the forum posts) which is a proper robot-toy startup and it is one of its kind and has gone through years of engineering, cost reduction re-engineering, living in factories in China etc. no fun compared to some .COM startups that raise $3.4m for breakfast and can't even explain what they do.