Robotic-gripper designer Soft Robotics lands funding
Robotic-gripper designer Soft Robotics Inc. has landed $23
million in venture capital from backers including the robotic-arm manufacturer Fanuc, and it plans to use the new
funds to accelerate its growth and to drive international
expansion in its core packaging and manufacturing markets.
The round was co-led by Calibrate Ventures
and Material Impact, while industrial automation company Fanuc also joined the deal as a
new investor, Bedford, Massachusetts-based
Soft Robotics said.
The funding follows a rising tide of investments in the warehouse automation sector,
although most of those checks have been written to vendors of mobile wheeled platforms—
as opposed to static arms and grippers—such
as the $50 million venture capital round raised by self-driving forklift maker Vecna Robotics, the $46 million
raised by autonomous mobile robot (AMR) vendor Fetch
Robotics, the $26 million raised by AMR maker Locus
Robotics, and the $25 million landed by AMR provider 6
River Systems Inc.
In comparison, the startups that sell “end effectors”—the
specialized grippers that attach to the ends of robotic arms
and allow them to grab individual items—have lagged
behind in their fundraising efforts. One exception is the
automated piece-picking startup RightHand Robotics Inc.,
which raised $23 million in 2018.
However, the difference between the two
camps may be closing, as an increasing number of players have moved to integrate their
approaches to both picking and moving warehouse inventory. For example, Soft Robotics’
new financial connection to Fanuc follows
close on the heels of a strategic technology integration partnership between the two that was
announced in December 2019. Soft Robotics
also has connections with other firms in the
warehouse automation space, including 6 River
Systems.
Other such integrations include a tie-up between
RightHand and Vecna, which said in 2018 they would
combine their strengths in different areas of material handling technology; a similar integration between RightHand
and Locus; and a move by Teradyne, the parent company
of robotic-arm manufacturer Universal Robots, to buy the
autonomous forklift vendor AutoGuide Mobile Robots. ;
—Ben Ames
Tompkins Robotics, a provider of flexible, scalable
autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), has partnered with
systems integrator Bastian Solutions to expand delivery
of its “t-Sort” solution and product line to help clients
improve efficiency and capacity utilization in the ware-
house. … Global pharmaceutical company Boehringer
Ingelheim has selected NiceLabel, a developer of label
design software and label management systems, to
help it create a global standardized labeling process.
… Software developer Paragon Software Systems has
launched its route optimization software on the Geotab
Marketplace. Fleet managers who are already creating
routes using Paragon can now view vehicle data from
Geotab’s telematics system within Paragon’s Route
Execution software to see when routes deviate from the
plan. … Blue Yonder (formerly JDA Software) and J.B.
Hunt Transport Services Inc. will integrate Blue Yonder’s
Supply Chain Management Platform with Hunt’s 360°
digital freight-matching platform to provide customers
with greater pricing visibility and access to available
capacity. … The U.S.-based high-end sports equipment
company True Sports has chosen Geodis Netherlands
as its European logistics partner. Under the new con-
tract, Geodis Netherlands will provide warehousing
and distribution services for True Sports. … Zebra
Technologies has chosen LevaData’s artificial intelli-
gence (AI)-powered cognitive sourcing platform to man-
age the company’s direct materials sourcing worldwide.
… Freight transportation and supply chain management
services provider Averitt Express has renewed its contract
with SmartDrive Systems to deploy SmartDrive’s vid-
eo-based safety program across its truck fleet. … AIM,
an industry association for the automatic identification
industry, has partnered with the Industrial Internet
Consortium (IIC), an organization dedicated to trans-
forming business and society by accelerating the adop-
tion of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). AIM
and IIC will work together to advance efforts to max-
imize interoperability, portability, security, and pri-
vacy for the IIoT. … Velociti Inc., a global provider of
technology design, deployment, and support services,
has announced that dry freight carrier Mesilla Valley
Transportation will be using VeloCare, its proactive tech-
nology monitoring and repair service.
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