DETROIT—Officials at the Detroit based automotive robotics startup RoboTire announced the closing of its $7.5 million Series A investment round.
The round was led by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Reinalt-Thomas Corp., which operates the 1,100-store Discount Tire and America’s Tire chains, and is the world’s largest independent tire retailer. Also participating were Atlanta, Ga.-based Automotive Ventures, Detroit Venture Partners, New York City-based 640 Oxford Ventures and several angel investors.
“This is a pivotal moment for RoboTire and sets us on a path to further transform vehicle maintenance,” said RoboTire founder and CEO Victor Darolfi. “Our focus is to revolutionize the way tires are changed, and collaborating with Discount Tire—an iconic automotive and tire industry leader—will make our innovative technology more widely available to consumers who need both speed and service as part of their daily lives. We are immensely proud to receive this backing from our investors and know this is just the first turn down a long road to success for our company.”
RoboTire’s patented system uses robots to change tires in a fraction of the time human operators can—reducing multiple-hour operations to under 15 minutes. Introducing this breakthrough manufacturing-level automation to traditional automotive repair shops transforms the traditional financial and operational considerations used by fleet operators and automotive service providers for tire and wheel services.
Said Tom Williams, chief experience officer at Discount Tire: “As customer expectations around the ‘buy and book online’ experience and our ability to deliver reduced wait times continue to grow, we will continue to pursue automation and enhancements that ensure an inviting, easy and safe experience for all our customers.”
RoboTire was founded in 2018 and has multiple patents and patents pending for its automotive systems.
“We see RoboTire as transformative – not only for the tire industry but for the development of smarter automotive technologies and future-proofing the workforce of skilled technicians, which our industry must do a better job recruiting, training and retaining,” said Will Mapes, RoboTire COO.
For more information, visit robotire.com.