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Caja Robotics is developing goods-to-person robots. | Caja Robotics

Israeli startup Caja Robotics today raised $12 million in Series B funding for its goods-to-person (G2P) automation system. Founded in 2014, Caja Robotics has now raised $26 million to date. The funding will help Caja Robotics expand its operations worldwide, as well as improve its manufacturing and deployment processes.

The round was led by New Era Capital and existing investors Philip Spruch, Gigi Levy Weis, IAngels, CRA fund, and Caja Robotics CEO Ilan Cohen and EVP & CRO Hanna Yanovsky.

Caja Robotics’ G2P system is designed for unit picking to increase order fulfillment productivity and warehouse storage capacity. The system employs two types of robots that collaborate with each other:

• A lift robot for storage optimization and replenishment
• A cart robot for picking and transportation of boxes.

The system is powered by software for navigation, fleet management, and inventory optimization. The company claims its system can be deployed at existing warehouses with no need to adjust existing infrastructure.

“With this new funding, Caja Robotics will continue its substantial global growth and expansion,” said Cohen. “We have seen a large surge in demand for warehouse automation and our advanced software, and this capital will help us scale accordingly.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift from brick-and-mortar retail to e-commerce. Growth expected over the next three to five years occurred over the past six months, several executive have told The Robot Report. This has also led to growth in robotics systems for pick-and-place, materials handling, and delivery applications.

Caja Robotics has recently announced a number of partnerships. It teamed with Advanced Handling Systems, a full-service provider of robotic solutions based in Cincinnati. Caja installed its robots at a warehouse operated by Sela Logistics, a leading supplier of logistics solutions in Israel. A fleet of dozens of robots will initially be deployed, with expectations of adding more robots in the future. Sela’s customers include Nike, Adidas, Levi’s, Diesel, Hugo Boss, and more.

Caja’s robots are also deployed in the U.S. at the logistics center of Bergen Logistics in New Jersey. Bergen manages fulfillment of online orders for dozens of brands shipping to customers in the New York metropolitan area.

In other recent warehouse robotics news, leading British online supermarket Ocada in November acquired two U.S.-based robotics companies for $287 million in hopes of making its warehouses more efficient. Ocado purchased San Francisco-based Kindred Systems, which specializes in robotic piece-picking, for about $262 million and Las Vegas-based Haddington Dynamics, a developer of low-cost robotic arms, for about $25 million.