Melonee Wise has done it again. The former Game Changer Award nominee and winner of the Pitchfire Award at RoboBusiness 2013 has raised $20 million for startup Fetch Robotics.
Fetch Robotics had already raised $3 million, so the latest round of venture capital is significant. The San Jose, Calif.-based company said it plans to use the money to expand its sales and marketing operations and meet increasing demand from warehouses and fulfillment centers.
Fetch and Freight keep rolling
Fetch Robotics produces collaborative robots Fetch and Freight for use in the logistics industry. Fetch is a mobile manipulator, and Freight is a mobile base. Together with software, they can autonomously pick and move products and return to charging stations. Fetch and Freight are designed to work safely alongside humans.
Fetch and Freight are part of a larger trend toward the use of robots to speed order fulfillment. Amazon’s purchase of Kiva Systems and its recent Robotics Challenge, Clearpath’s mobile platform for Rethink’s Baxter, and grocer Ocado’s ambitious plans for fully autonomous robots all demonstrate growing demand and interest in warehouse automation.
Co-robots could speed order fulfillment.
In addition, “e-commerce, and its profound effects on fulfillment requirements, is stimulating widespread growth in warehouse automation and control-system sales,” said an ARC Advisory Group study. ABI Research predicts that the market for collaborative robotics, or co-robots, will grow tenfold in the next five years, from $95 million this year to more than $1 billion in 2020.
Money follows co-robots
SoftBank Group U.S. Inc., O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, and Shasta Ventures were Fetch’s Series A investors. The Street predicts that such investments and mergers and acquisitions are likely to continue as co-robots become safer, more flexible and precise, and more affordable. Retailers and customers worldwide will benefit from the “new productivity,” despite ongoing job fears.
SoftBank Managing Director Kabir Misra will join Fetch Robotics’ board of directors, which includes Bryce Roberts from O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Rob Coneybeer from Shasta Ventures, Steve Hogan from incubator Tech-Rx, and Wise.
“As businesses look for solutions to streamline operations and meet the needs of an on-demand economy, we see a tremendous opportunity for robotics to solve that problem,” said Misra. “The team, the robots, and the timing all lead us to Fetch Robotics, and we are happy to join them in bringing Fetch and Freight to market.”
“I’m delighted to have SoftBank join the team and help us change the world of logistics and material handling,” said Melonee Wise, CEO of Fetch Robotics, in a statement. “SoftBank’s expertise and worldwide resources with respect to technology, production, distribution and more will be a big help to our growing organization.”
