Autonomous welding startup TetraGen Robotics raises $1.8 million

TetraGen Robotics, a Winnipeg-based autonomous welding robotics company, has raised $1.8 million CAD in an oversubscribed seed round led by Calgary's StepChange Capital, with participation from Vancouver's Emend Vision Fund and Jim Richardson of James Richardson & Sons. The company, founded in 2022 by Matt Khoshdarregi, will use the funds to accelerate commercialization and expand deployments of its AI-powered, manual-programming-free welding robots across North America.

Winnipeg-based autonomous welding robotics company TetraGen Robotics https://www.tetragen.ai/ has raised $1.8 million CAD in seed round funding. The news: The funding comes via an oversubscribed round led by Calgary’s StepChange Capital, with participation from Vancouver’s Emend Vision Fund, a VC firm with a focus that includes industrial modernization. TetraGen did not disclose cheque sizes or additional investors, but did say that it received funding from Jim Richardson of Winnipeg’s James Richardson & Sons https://www.jrsl.ca/ . From the source: Founded in 2022 by former University of Manitoba Intelligent Digital Manufacturing Lab founder Matt Khoshdarregi, TetraGen’s tech combines the traditional chassis of a welding robot with proprietary AI software and machine vision. The company markets its robots as being “manual programming-free,” meaning they do not require humans to set up complex welding instructions and can automatically generate programming to adapt to real-world circumstances. The context: The Canadian collaborative robot market is valued at just over $52 million https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/geography/collaborative-robot-market/canada , but is projected to expand to more than $129 million in the coming years https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/geography/collaborative-robot-market/canada . Focusing on breaking into industries like heavy equipment, mining, and defence manufacturing, where manual programming and weld complexity remain high, TetraGen told BetaKit it will use the $1.8 million to accelerate commercialization, aiming to deploy more autonomous systems to customers throughout North America. TetraGen did not say where its systems are currently deployed, and where they will target expansion first, but said that success will be measured by “increasing customer deployments, expanding our commercial footprint, and strengthening strategic partnerships.” TetraGen said it also plans to use the capital to grow its engineering and commercial teams, but did not say how many hires that might result in. Final thought: Autonomous robots, sometimes called “cobots,” are increasingly common in industrial welding, with the Canadian Welding Bureau updating its official standards https://www.cwbgroup.org/resources/videos/whats-new-in-csa-w471-2025 in 2025 to reflect the change. Likewise, many post-secondary institutions https://www.fanshawec.ca/how-welding-is-changing now include robotics in their curriculum https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R7IBTb KU49KXRyT171bGIgkzHqYIvvrYjaSfuVpY6o/edit?tab=t.0 . As Canada looks towards a shortage of skilled trades workers in welding https://www.cwbgroup.org/resources/reports/welding-post-secondary-education-and-apprenticeship-snapshot , robotic systems are seen as a way to bridge the gap. BetaKit’s Prairies reporting is funded in part by YEGAF , a not-for-profit dedicated to amplifying business stories in Alberta. Feature image courtesy TetraGen.