Cruise Cofounder Kyle Vogt Raised $150 Million For Household Robot Startup

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the launch of a new robotics startup called "The Bot Company" by Kyle Vogt, the former CEO of Cruise, a self-driving car company. The new startup is focused on building hardware and software for at-home robots that can perform tasks like housekeeping and laundry. The article also provides background on Vogt's previous entrepreneurial successes and the recent challenges faced by Cruise.

🙋 Q&A

[01] Kyle Vogt's New Robotics Startup

1. What is the new robotics startup founded by Kyle Vogt?

• The new startup is called "The Bot Company" and is focused on building hardware and software for at-home robots that can perform tasks like housekeeping and laundry.

2. What is the funding and valuation of the new startup?

• The Bot Company has raised $150 million in funding, and its post-money valuation is $550 million.

3. Who are the co-founders of The Bot Company?

• The co-founders are Kyle Vogt, Luke Holoubek (a former Cruise engineer), and Paril Jain (a former Tesla AI employee).

4. What is the business model of The Bot Company?

• The company plans to sell the robots directly to consumers and allow users to shape the robot's functionalities and features by submitting requests through a Discord-like chat server.

[02] Kyle Vogt's Background

1. What are Kyle Vogt's previous entrepreneurial successes?

• Vogt has had two billion-dollar exits as the co-founder of Twitch (acquired by Amazon in 2014) and Cruise (acquired by General Motors in 2016).

2. What was Vogt's role at Cruise?

• Vogt served as the CEO of Cruise, first pre-acquisition and then again in 2021.

3. What challenges did Cruise face under Vogt's leadership?

• Cruise faced safety concerns and criticism from critics over its self-driving operations. In October 2023, a Cruise vehicle was involved in an incident where it "dragged" a pedestrian, leading to the revocation of Cruise's permits in California and the voluntary pause of operations in other states.

4. What was the outcome of the independent investigation into the October 2023 incident?

• The independent investigation by law firm Quinn Emanuel found that Cruise's "failings" could be attributed to "poor leadership" and "a fundamental misapprehension of Cruise's obligations of accountability and transparency to the government and the public."