Dutch warehouse robotics company Smart Robotics has raised €10 million in Series A funding as it looks to expand its AI-driven robotic picking technology across Europe and strengthen its position in the fast-growing warehouse automation market.
The funding round was led by Rotterdamse Havendraken, with participation from Innovation Industries and Dutch family office Ernij Next.
Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Best, the Netherlands, Smart Robotics develops AI-based robotic pick-and-place systems for intralogistics operations. The company says it has deployed more than 120 systems across 15 countries and five industries, executing more than one billion successful robotic picks in live warehouse environments.
The company claims this milestone has enabled it to build one of Europe’s largest real-world operational datasets for robotic picking applications, forming the basis of its AI control platform.
Smart Robotics says the fresh capital will be used to accelerate European expansion, strengthen commercial operations, and further develop its proprietary AI software layer, which is designed to improve robotic handling of high-SKU-variability warehouse operations.
The warehouse automation sector continues to attract growing investment as logistics operators face rising e-commerce volumes, labor shortages, and increasing pressure to improve fulfillment efficiency.
According to figures cited by the company from Interact Analysis, logistics automation remains significantly less mature than manufacturing automation, with logistics automation penetration estimated at around 20 percent globally.
Heico Sandee, founder and co-CEO/CTO of Smart Robotics, said: “Our strength lies in the combination of proprietary AI software, over a decade of hands-on deployment experience in warehouse environments, and a team spanning AI engineering, robotics integration, and logistics operations.
“But what truly sets us apart is the scale of real-world data we have accumulated, enabling us to continuously improve our AI and outperform traditional automation systems. This puts us in a strong position to help shape the next wave of automation in logistics.”
The company’s systems are designed to automate logistics tasks ranging from single-item picking to palletizing, using AI-driven software to improve robotic adaptability in environments with high product variation and changing warehouse conditions.
Smart Robotics says its robotic systems currently achieve 99.5 percent uptime and can handle up to 1,000 picks per hour while continuously generating operational data to improve system performance over time.
Felix Schmidt, co-CEO of Smart Robotics, said: “This financing round, together with the strong support of our partners and investors, gives us additional momentum to further expand our position and ultimately establish ourselves as the category leader in embodied AI for intralogistics robotics.”
The company has also recently announced partnerships with automation providers including ProLog Automation as it seeks to expand into larger warehouse automation projects and broader customer segments.
Robin Slakhorst of Rotterdamse Havendraken said: “Smart Robotics combines deep technical expertise with a clear understanding of real-world logistics operations.
“Their ability to leverage large-scale operational data to continuously improve performance gives them a strong and defensible position in this rapidly growing market.”
The investment reflects wider industry expectations that robotic picking systems will become an increasingly important part of warehouse automation over the coming decade as logistics companies attempt to reduce manual handling operations while improving throughput and operational consistency.
Main image: Felix Schmidt (left), co-CEO of Smart Robotics, and Heico Sandee, founder and co-CEO/CTO of Smart Robotics.
