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Image credit: Gitai
Tokyo-based Gitai, the Japanese telexistance robotics startup for the space industry, announced last week that it has opened an office in Los Angeles for R&D, manufacturing, and business development. The company will begin recruiting project managers as well as various types of engineers in earnest. They had been conducting all business activities in Tokyo until now. As collaboration with US agencies and private companies like Nanoracks and NASA has increased, including the successful onboard demonstration of their robot to the International Space Station last year, the company has decided to facilitate US operations.
Prior to launching Gitai in 2016 (under its previous name of MacroSpace), the company’s founder Sho Nakanose previously worked for IBM Japan followed by founding an IT services company in India and sold it to an Indian company. Some of our readers may recall that Yuto Nakanishi, a humanoid scientist/engineer and former CEO of Schaft (acquied by Google X), joined Gitai as COO (now CRO, Chief Robot Officer). Gitai secured $4.1 million US in a Series A round in July of 2019 followed by 1.8 billion yen (about $17 million US in the exchange rate at the time) in a Series B round in March of 2021.