Funding for warehouse robots startups on the rise, $70M invested in 2017

Startups focusing on warehouse automation systems, or warehouse robots, are increasingly getting more funding, and this year’s tally is already up to $70 million.

The race to start creating automation systems for warehousing activities started around 2012, when Amazon bought Kiva Systems.

Since then, there have been several companies regularly boasting multi-million-dollar capital injections.

The latest of these is Locus Robotics, which announced last week that it had raised an additional $25 million in VC funding, bringing its total funded amount to $33 million.

In July, $15 million was invested in 6 River Systems Inc., started by ex-employees of Kiva Systems. In March, Geek+, a vendor for Alibaba, raised $22 million. A further $8 million was raised this year by RightHand.

Greater efficiency in a low-margin environment such as retailing is a key driver of profitability, as Amazon knows only too well.

As e-commerce increasingly leverages physical delivery hubs such as Amazon’s fulfillment centers, the need for warehouse automation is also on the rise.

Nearly $2.6 billion was spent on warehouse constructions just in September this year. That’s more than three times what was spent in September 2012.

With that increasing square footage comes the need to experiment with automation systems like warehouse robots, and these startups are collectively benefiting from that disruption.

What’s also driving this need for warehouse robots is that the talent pool is simply unable to keep up with demand. Again, in September, there were nearly quarter of a million (246,000) open positions that were left unfilled.

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