Supply Chain Startup Unbox Bags $7 Mn Infusion To Build Compact Ecommerce Robotics Solutions

Supply-chain robotics startup Unbox Robotics has raised $7 Mn in a Series A funding round led by 3one4 Capital with participation from Sixth Sense Ventures and Redstart labs. 

SOSV, Arali Ventures, WEH Ventures, BEENEXT and Force Ventures also participated in the round along with Unbox’s founders and CPO, Vijay Kedia (Kedia Securities), Aditya Singh (Stride Ventures), Pavitar Singh (Sprinklr), Rahul Chaudhary (Treebo Hotels), Nikhil Vora Kathan Shah (Sixth Sense Ventures), and Veda VC.

Founded in 2019 by Pramod Ghadge and Shahid Memon, Unbox Robotics specialises in robotics-based fulfilment and distribution technology for ecommerce, retail and logistics enterprises. The startup’s solutions help companies to consolidate customer orders and sort them for final delivery.

According to the startup, its plug-and-play Swarm robotics technology can be deployed to locations in less than a week. It claims that the product can scan, sort and dispatch packages while improving personnel productivity and reducing operational cost of package sorting by more than 60%. 

The technology can not only automate large facilities but also ‘micro-hubs’ with less than 2,000 sq ft of space, using a vertical sorting mechanism. The freshly-infused capital will primarily be used to expand the startup’s teams across all functions, research and development and expansion into new geographies. 

 “We have already got orders from some of the leading e-commerce logistics companies. We are on our way to converting every other pilot or demo into a commercial contract. We will deploy the funds to build an A+ team to help our customers experience the future of logistics, sorting and supply chain across continents,” said Pramod Ghadge, CEO and cofounder of Unbox Robotics. 

The global logistics robots market was estimated to be worth $5.52 Bn in 2020 and is expected to reach $14.93 Bn in 2027, growing at a CAGR of 15.27% during the period. The rapid growth of ecommerce, and in particular D2C, quick commerce and social commerce is expected to drive this growth further. 

“We believe the e-commerce and D2C boom is creating a large need for automation solutions within warehouses and FCs, with the industry slated to grow to $32 billion over the next 2-3 years. This coupled with evolving consumer expectations, labour shortage, omnichannel distribution, and technology accessibility has made robotics a priority for both e-commerce and fulfillment companies,” said Nikhil Vora, founder and CEO of Sixth Sense Ventures.

Last month, AI-based robotics startup Haber had raised $20 Mn in a Series B funding round led by Ascent Capital. Accel, Elevation Capital, Beenext, Mukul Chawla (Temasek Partner) and the founders of GreyOrange (another robot-as-a-service company), Samay Kohli and Akash Gupta also participated in the round. Earlier this year, Agritech robotics startup TartanSense had raised $5 Mn in a Series A funding round led by FMC Ventures and Omnivore.