US tech firm Gecko Robotics aims to start making robots in the UAE by next year

Company to implement AI training and use robots in Adnoc’s gas operations

Gecko Robotics's chief executive Jake Loosarian says the company has no immediate plans for an IPO. Antonie Robertson/The National

US-based tech company Gecko Robotics expects to start manufacturing robots in the UAE by next year after signing deals with local companies, its co-founder and chief executive has said.

The company, which claims to have a $1.25 billion valuation, is considering plans to expand its offices in the UAE and hire more local talent as part of three agreements signed with state-run Adnoc and other UAE entities, Jake Loosararian told The National in Abu Dhabi.

The company, which closed its series D funding round in June, is looking , its co-founder and chief executive told The National in an interview in Abu Dhabi.

Manufacturing of robots locally is likely to begin “within the next year”, he said.

Gecko signed three contracts on Sunday with Adnoc Gas, AIQ and Adnoc Technical Academy for robotics, AI-powered analytics and joint training programmes.

“We would look for as many [local] partnerships as we possibly could to expedite manufacturing, but in some cases, with the technology that we build, that might not exist in the ecosystem. And we would build our own facility,” he said.

“The majority of our robots are made in the US, and then we deploy them to different locations. But yes, as you can imagine, manufacturing will begin to occur outside of the US with contracts like this.”

Gecko, which supplies robotics for the US military, will use a separate UAE-based entity to work on its regional projects.

“We separate them all out to ensure that they’re secure, and also that we run these groups by rules and guidelines of the countries, as well as that of the military,” Mr Loosararian said.

Adnoc has been using Gecko's robots for the “last 18 months”, he added.

Gecko’s wall-climbing robots use specially designed sensor payloads to detect otherwise invisible damage, allowing for precision repairs and predictive maintenance.

The new deals have software and new capabilities that Adnoc now has access to.

Gecko, which secured $125 million in a series D round from Cox Enterprises, and continuing investors USIT, XN, Founders Fund and YCombinator in June, has no plans to list for now, Mr Loosararian said.

“We won't really think about an IPO [initial public offering] for the next couple years,” he said.

“We're just focused on delivering results and we'll scale privately, as long as we need to, to be able to deliver those.”

Gecko is also in discussions with other energy companies in the region as it looks to scale up its robotics manufacturing and supply in the region.

“The business, luckily, has a bunch of revenue, and so we're deploying more and more of the capital we raised into scale. And so scaling is the big thing right now,” Mr Loosararian said.