Geek+ Inc. yesterday announced that Geek+ Americas has opened an office in San Diego. The Beijing-based company also named executives who will lead its efforts to sell mobile robots to logistics and manufacturing customers in the Americas.

Geek+ Americas leadership has robotics experience

Mark Messina, COO, Geek+ Americas

As chief operating officer for the Americas, Mark Messina will drive operations in the U.S. and business expansion across the continent, the company said.

An early logistics robotics advocate, Messina brings over two decades of experience in operations and engineering, including leadership roles in robotics automation with Mattel as director of robotics and automation, as well as Amazon, where he was director of mechanical engineering for the Kiva/Amazon Robotics automated guided vehicle (AGV).

Rick DeFiesta, BD and Partnership, Geek+ Americas

As business development and partnership director for the Americas, Rick DeFiesta will drive sales and customer relations. He has worked for some of the largest material-handling companies in North America such as Honeywell, Daifuku Wynright, and Siemens Dematic, managing sales and implementing large automated systems on the customer side.

DeFiesta has assisted hundreds of customers in distribution, order fulfillment, manufacturing, and assembly by implementing the latest technologies in complex integrated solutions.

Kevin Guo, general manager, Geek+ Americas

Kevin Guo, formerly head of service at Geek+, leads the Americas team as general manager. He joined the company after over a decade with ABB in various senior service, project, and sales roles across China and Europe.

Guo has led the growing service team and been instrumental in the success of complex logistics automation projects across the globe, said the company.

Mobile robots rapidly spread worldwide

Founded in 2015, Geek+ said it serves industries including e-commerce, apparel, retail, third-party logistics (3PL) providers, pharmaceutical, and manufacturing. The company first demonstrated its robots in the U.S. at Modex 2018 and raised $150 million in Series C1 funding last July. In September, it launched a smart factory in Nanjing, China, using robots to make robots.

Robotics Business Review, a sibling site to The Robot Report, named Geek+ a “company to watch” in 2018 and an RBR50 company in 2019.

The company claimed that it is the largest logistics robotics provider globally, having completed more than 200 projects and deployed more than 10,000 robots worldwide. More than 800 employees, including 400 research and development engineers, work at Geek+ across China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Germany, and the U.K.