inVia Robotics, a developer of warehouse automation solutions, raised $30 million in Series C funding. The 2021 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award winner has raised $59 million since it was founded in 2015.
The Series C round was led by M12, Microsoft’s venture fund, and Qualcomm Ventures. Hitachi Ventures and existing inVia investors Point 72, Upfront, and Embark also participated in the round. inVia closed a $20 million Series B funding round in August 2018.
inVia said the new funding will be used primarily to extend its reach in North America, as well as to drive expansion to Asia-Pacific APAC and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). inVia CEO and co-founder Lior Elazary said the company experienced record revenue (up 600%) and deployments in 2020. This was driven by increased demand for e-commerce automation spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are proud and honored to have earned the confidence from these industry-leading investors who are equally as committed to the progression of automation within the supply chain as we are,” said Elazary. “We have intentionally aligned ourselves in the best interest of our customers and their businesses, finding ways to not only optimize productivity, but also further inVia Robotics’ global reach.”
inVia’s Picker robots offer mobile goods-to-person automation that can be integrated into existing operations or new facilities. inVia uses machine learning to continually optimize machines and workflows, including the inVia Logic orchestration software.
inVia deploys its systems under a robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) model. inVia’s subscription-based payment system enables customers to pay according to the productivity levels they desire, versus needing to lease and maintain equipment. We recently held a webinar about RaaS, analyzing the business, legal, technical and operational aspects of the business model will be analyzed and discussed. You can watch that session on demand here.
“Global e-commerce adoption is experiencing exponential growth resulting in the need for robust warehouse optimization solutions,” said Quinn Li, Senior Vice President of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and Global Head of Qualcomm Ventures. “inVia’s AI-powered warehouse automation solutions help improve warehouse throughput and workflow efficiency. We look forward to supporting inVia in accelerating warehouse digitization with AI and 5G through our investment.”
inVia recently added more than 10 companies to its channel partner program that is designed to supplement its direct selling initiatives. It also partnered with Rufus Labs to leverage Rufus’ wearables to enhance warehouse worker productivity.
In other autonomous mobile robot news, ABB last week acquired ASTI Mobile Robotics for an undisclosed amount. The two companies have deployed their solutions to multiple, mutual customers in Europe in recent years. With its automotive business declining, ABB was looking to diversify its robotics portfolio. Sami Atiya, CEO of ABB’s Robotics & Discrete Automation business, and Verónica Pascual, CEO of ASTI Mobile Robotics, joined The Robot Report Podcast this week to discuss the acquisition. You can listen to that episode below.
So if im a software engineer/architect of cloud based applications looking to pivot into robotics and industrial automation sounds like what I need to do is
1. gain First Robotics level skills
so build some robots to understand how the mechanical, electrical and software work together to accomplish a task
basic computer vision, robot operating system, sensor fusion, build a mobile base, build an XDOF arm and understand inverse kinematics
2. build or imagine an industrial automation lab
so set up some work cells, a “warehouse floor” and get product to move across this floor across a number of work cells.
build test fixtures, mounting brackets, and automated work cells
maybe i can do this virtually for free by going to vention.io
and then take some spare parts from my garage and build small scale version
3. Build some basic software that helps to track and schedule work across this “warehouse” and its robots
so there are some logistics primitives here like
depallating, pick and place, Piece Picking, Order Picking, palletizing
So if i take the next 6 months to do this i can then maybe apply for the following job type to get my foot into the industry.
plusonerobotics.com/careers/pre-sales-application-engineer/
To be honest the podcast was kindof high level for me since im a hands dirty type of person and your guest mainly operates with high level people. But he did say one thing that set me on the path that i detailed above.
It was the moment you guys were discussing the gap between school and industry and the need for automation labs and understanding of how industrial automation is really used.
such that the person can walk into an empty warehouse with the client and be able to map solutions to his space and real needs.
Having been in the tech industry for 20 years and a comp sci graduate im highly certain that no school is putting this together for people. School goes really deep into something like computer vision or mechanical engineering but not the logistics of a real factory floor and making strategic automation decisions.