Robin Autopilot, the Dallas-based robotic lawn mower subscription service startup, has been bought by Ohio-based Fahey Group, which will move the company’s headquarters near Cleveland to Strongsville.
In 2017, we introduced you to Robin, which was founded in 2015 and called itself the “Uber-for-Lawns.” It had installed 36 robotic mowers back then using the robotic mower technology and now has over 1,000 customers in the U.S. with 15 locations in 12 states.
The decision to move Robin to the Cleveland area makes sense for the company as Cleveland now has the largest single concentration of robotic mowers in the U.S., according to a statement, but it will always have its Texas roots. Landmark Automation, a Fahey Group business, owns and operates the Cleveland and Tampa franchises of Robin. MTD Products Inc., which manufactures the mowers, is located in Valley City, another city near Cleveland.
No terms of Robin’s deal with Fahey were released.
Robin founders will stay with the company
Founders Justin Crandall and Bart Lomont will stay with the company, but Fahey Group founder Logan Fahey will become Robin’s CEO.
“Headquartering the company in Cleveland, where both Landmark and MTD are located, can help streamline our service and deployment collaboration as we continue to expand the business and bring this technology to new markets,” Fahey said in a statement. “In addition to our strong management team, the deal is backed by investors who have scaled similar businesses and believe robotic mowing represents the future of landscaping services.”
Robin was a product of Dialexa Labs—an incubator for employee ideas in Dallas. Dialexa said it worked with Crandall and Lomont to take the concept from idea to launch by “reimagining the future of lawn care,” offering mom-and-pop landscaping companies online payment for customers and job scheduling.
Robin and Dialexa developed an app that allowed the startup to deliver an instant quote with nothing more than a street address. On the backend, the app matches the customer’s request to a curated group of preferred providers.
Robin may be switching owners, but according to its website, it remains focused on the future of landscaping.
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