(Reuters) - Silicon Valley has a new pitch for small U.S. manufacturers struggling with hiring workers but wary of the high costs of high tech: rent-a-robot. Much of the initial risk and cost are taken on by the robot companies. Here are some rent-a-robot startups and the investors backing them. (Source: PitchBook and the companies) Locus Robotics www.locusrobotics.com -Producer of autonomous mobile robots for warehouses. -Raised $150 million in February in a funding round led by Tiger Global Management and BOND Capital -Other investors include Prologis Ventures, Zebra Ventures, Scale Venture Partners Path Robotics www.path-robotics.com -Manufacturer of autonomous welding robots -Raised $100 million in July in a funding round led by Tiger Global Management. -Other investors include Addition, SVB Capital, Basic Set Ventures, Comeback Capital, Creative Ventures, Drive Capital, Eudaimonia Capital, Lemnos, Xplorer Capital Rapid Robotics www.rapidrobotics.com -Machine-operating robots offered as low as $2,100 a month -Raised $36.7 million in August in funding round led by Kleiner Perkins and Tiger Global Management -Other investors include New Enterprise Associates, 468 Capital, Bee Partners, Draft Ventures, Greycroft Fetch Robotics www.fetchrobotics.com -Maker of self-driving robots for warehouses and factories -Previously backed by SoftBank, the startup was acquired by Nasdaq-listed Zebra Technologies Corp. Vicarious www.vicarious.com -An artificial intelligence startup that is using AI to power machine arms in factories and started its subscription model in 2019 -Investors include Pegasus Tech Ventures, Samsung Venture Investment, ABB Technology Ventures, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. Formic Technologies www.formic.co -A startup offering “robots by the hour,” which charges only for the time the robot is working. Handles setup and maintenance. -Investors include Initialized Capital, Lux Capital, Correlation Ventures, Chapter One, and Lorimer Ventures. Reporting by Jane Lanhee Lee in Oakland, Calif.; Editing by Matthew Lewis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.