Singapore-based autonomous robot builder Hivebotics has raised $6 million in a Series A round led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India, with Taiwan's Fareast Land Development (part of Farglory Group) and Asian smart-restroom maker Rigel also participating. The company will move its Abluo restroom-cleaning robot from pilot deployments into volume production and further develop its HiveIntelligence AI layer.
Abluo cleans full restrooms, not just floors
Unlike existing floor-scrubbing cleaning robots, Abluo is a mobile base with an articulated arm that services complete commercial restrooms — toilets, urinals, sinks and floors. It cleans without contact, using high-pressure steam, a targeted chemical jet, vacuum extraction and blow-drying, with onboard cameras identifying each fixture and software planning the cleaning route in real time.
Hivebotics says Abluo has logged nearly 10,000 operating hours over 12 months across more than 20 sites in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America, including hospitals, airport terminals and shopping malls. Each cycle replaces about 30 minutes of manual work with a five-minute human inspection.
The vertical thesis for physical AI
Co-founder and CEO Rishab Patwari told Vertex that teams of robots will take over most repetitive facility work within three years. Vertex investment executive director Chan Yip Pang said cleaning is non-discretionary demand while the workforce ages and wage floors rise, leaving operators needing to hold hygiene standards without staff they can find.
The round captures a specific bet on how physical AI commercialises: not one general-purpose humanoid, but purpose-built machines that automate a single, measurable job with a clear return. Contrast Hivebotics's economics with the more speculative pitches at IFA Berlin 2026, where humanoid form factors led the show floor.
Company background
Hivebotics was founded in 2021 as a spinoff from the National University of Singapore by Patwari and Nguyen Tuan Dung, and launched Abluo commercially in 2024. The Series A is Vertex's second consecutive robotics bet in Singapore after backing the wider wave of physical AI cleaning consolidation that also saw Neura Robotics buy ADLATUS last month.
Reporting based on coverage from TNGlobal, e27 and Vertex Ventures.