Sources: AMR maker Seegrid hit with layoffs

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Seegrid Palion Tow Tractor 8 in a warehouse

Seegrid’s Palion Tow Truck Series 8. | Credit: Seegrid

There have been “significant” layoffs at Seegrid, a Pittsburgh-based developer of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). Jim Rock, CEO of Seegrid, said about 90 employees were let go. The Robot Report has also seen multiple now-former employees post about the layoffs on LinkedIn. One of them said the layoffs were part of a company restructuring.

“Seegrid reduced its workforce by approximately 90 positions across all departments,” said Rock. “While regrettable, this decision was made in light of the global economic slowdown and to better position Seegrid for long-term growth. The investors, board of directors and executive leadership team continue to have confidence in the company’s vision, team and growth opportunity.”

While it’s unclear how many people work at Seegrid, its LinkedIn company profile said it has between 201-500 employees. At press time, there were 286 people on LinkedIn who list Seegrid as their current employer.

According to this Form D filing, Seegrid is also in the middle of raising a $75 million equity round of funding. It has already closed $30 million. According to Crunchbase, Seegrid has raised $107 million since it was founded, including the $30 million from this latest equity round.

It should be noted that Seegrid filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late 2014. At the time, it listed $48.7 million in outstanding liabilities, according to court documents. Nearly $15 million of Seegrid’s secured debt was owed to its largest shareholder at the time, which was grocer Giant Eagle Inc., which owned nearly 32% of Seegrid at that time.

Seegrid, which was founded in 2003, has a variety of models in its Palion portfolio, including Lift AMRs, the Tow Tractor and Pallet Truck AMR. In June 2021, Seegrid launched support for a Robots as a Service (RaaS) subscription model. In addition to the RaaS model, Seegrid will continue to offer its customers options to purchase equipment outright, as well as various leasing models.

In April 2022, Seegrid said Sumitomo Drive Technologies selected its AMRs for its expanding manufacturing operations. The power transmission component manufacturer chose Seegrid’s Palion AMR fleet and Fleet Central enterprise software to support autonomous hauling of parts and equipment between its existing 250,000 assembly facility and its new 100,000 square foot warehouse. The initial Seegrid Palion Tow Tractor workflow was 3,000 feet round trip, running up to 30-40 times per day.

Seegrid in October 2020 acquired LiDAR startup Box Robotics. At the time of the deal, Seegrid said the acquisition will help it advance its vision-guided robots for safe materials handling.

Seegrid is the latest robotics company to be hit by layoffs. The Robot Report learned just yesterday that Perceptive Automata, a Boston-based developer of human behavior understanding AI for autonomous vehicles and robots, recently shut down. According to co-founder and CTO Sam Anthony, Perceptive Automata went “kablooey” after it failed to close Series B funding. In July, a number of companies cut staff, including Argo AI, Nuro, Pudu Robotics, and Starship Technologies. And DoorDash announced it is shutting down Chowbotics just 18 months after acquiring the business.

This story is developing and will be updated if more information becomes available.