Locus Robotics, a manufacturer of autonomous mobile robots for fulfillment warehouses, has raised more than $40 million in new investment.
The Series D funding was led by Zebra Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Zebra Technologies. Existing investors, including Scale Venture Partners, also participated in the round.
The new funding brings Locus Robotics’ total funding to more than $105 million.
In addition to supporting the growth of the company’s research and development capacity to drive faster development of new warehouse robotics innovations, proceeds will be used to accelerate Locus’ expansion into new, global markets, including the launch of a European headquarters and several strategic reseller partnerships worldwide throughout 2020.
Rick Faulk, CEO of Locus Robotics, says: “Locus Robotics is thrilled to announce this new round of funding amid our most transformative year yet.
“The new funding allows Locus to accelerate expansion into global markets, enabling us to strengthen our support of retail, industrial, healthcare, and 3PL businesses around the world as they navigate through the Covid-19 pandemic, ensuring that they come out stronger on the other side.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has quickly transformed the retail industry, making online and omnichannel purchasing the new normal across the globe.
Locus Robotics’ industry-leading robotics fulfillment solution enables brands, retailers, and third-party logistics operators to easily meet higher order volumes and the increasing consumer demand for e-commerce, retail, omnichannel, and manufacturing order fulfillment.
Tony Palcheck, senior director, Zebra Ventures, says: “Automation has proven to be a critical solution for retail and third-party logistics businesses during this challenging time.
“As the retail industry continues to shift to e-commerce, Locus Robotics’ warehouse automation will help businesses meet the demands of this “new normal’, ensuring that customers can increase operational efficiency to meet requirements for fast, accurate delivery.”
Greg Buzek, president of IHL Group, says: “We have recently seen a dramatic disruption of retail with e-commerce growth as high as 400 percent year-over-year in some categories.
“And others were severely limited as the bulk of their inventory was in stores that they could not get into due to lockdowns.
“It’s critical that retailers are prepared for direct fulfillment from the warehouse.
“This announcement underscores the need for companies to prepare for today’s new labor challenges that will be impacted by the significant volume increases that are already occurring.
“Companies investing now in warehouse automation, particularly AMRs, will be better positioned for success in the post-pandemic economy as they can support sales from any channel.”
Locus’s proven, multi-bot solution for fulfillment incorporates collaborative, autonomous robots that work closely with human employees to improve fulfillment productivity and efficiency.
Customers worldwide, including Ceva, DHL, Boots UK, Geodis, Port Logistics Group, Verst Logistics, Radial, and others, are seeing doubling or tripling of fulfillment productivity with near-100 percent accuracy while saving 30 percent or more in operating expenses.
Rick MacDonald, president, retail, DHL Supply Chain North America, says: “DHL’s commitment to bringing scalable and proven productivity-enhancing technology for our customers has been a key factor behind our choice of Locus as a part of our technology strategy.
“Locus’s advanced AMR solution has allowed DHL and our customers to realize consistent improvements in productivity, speed, and flexibility that will help us further grow and seamlessly scale to meet the explosion of online ordering as we all adapt to the post-pandemic economy.”
John Santagate, vice president, robotics, Körber, says: “In order for warehouse operators to compete in today’s economy, automation needs to be a central part of your strategy.
“Now, more than ever, the ability to quickly and easily deploy proven AMR technology in response to rapidly changing and growing online order volume gives operators a significant competitive edge.”
Main picture courtesy of CEP-Research.com
