Autonomous Warehouse Robotics Startup Raises $100M

Vecna Robotics has closed a $100 million series C funding round, securing an additional $40 million in equity and debt to expand its robotic workflow capabilities.

Founded in 2018 as a spinoff of Vecna Technologies, Vecna provides autonomous robotics solutions for use in warehouses and manufacturing sites.

Tiger Global Management, Proficio Capital Partners and Impulse invested in the company, with this latest round doubling the valuation from its previous series B round in 2020.

Vecna plans to use the funds to develop new workflow-specific innovations focused on warehouse operations. The Massachusetts-based company is also looking to develop new platforms to provide improved deployment flexibility.

“Finalizing this capital raise, with the help of our existing investors and a new financing partner is huge validation that we are on the right track,” said Craig Malloy, Vecna Robotics’  CEO. “With fresh capital secured, we have the balance sheet to help us drive growth with our existing customers through improved product performance and the release of new automation technology that will change the game for material handling in warehousing and distribution.”

Vecna has developed robotic warehouse units such as self-driving forklifts and pallet jacks The company touts its robot as a solution to understaffing and expensive labor, automating tasks like heavy lifting and transporting goods.

Related:Humanoid Robots Being Tested for Warehouse Automation

Warehouse staff can pick up a product and place it on the robot which then autonomously takes that product to the desired location.

The company’s autonomous robots can also be optimized for manufacturing settings, ferrying materials to replenish stock on the production line and moving heavy products between stations.

Its robots are powered by its Pivotal software suite, which enables the units to autonomously navigate environments at up to speeds of 6.7 mph.

The software also provides operators with data analytics on unit performance. A Dashboard platform lets warehouse teams access heatmaps and performance trends to provide actionable insights to optimize bot performance.

Customers leveraging its robots include construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar and the construction engineering company Geodis.

FedEx is among its clients. FedEx brought in Vecna bots to its Greensboro, North Carolina site to autonomously ferry items around the warehouse.

The deployment resulted in FedEx’s team processing 30% more in non-conveyable volume and identified 20% more workflow improvement through Vecna’s analytics suite.

Related:LG, SVT Robotics Partner to Connect, Scale Warehouse Robots

The company claims its solutions have helped customers achieve 70% performance improvements in warehouse workflows across uses such as product picking.

“Geodis has been working with Vecna Robotics on the development of a new, groundbreaking case-picking solution that nearly doubles performance,” said Andy Johnston, Geodis’ senior director for innovation. “We are counting on this recent cash infusion at the company to speed up development and launch of a complete, market-ready offering that can be deployed right away.”

In addition to the funding news, Vecna announced it has brought in former Dell and RingCentral executive Michael Helmbrecht to serve as the company’s chief operating officer.