Warehouse and supply chain automation startup GreyOrange has raised around ₹1,000 crores ($140 million) in series C round led by Mithril Capital, a venture fund co-founded by Ajay Royan and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel.
Other investors that participated in the round include Flipkart Co-founder Binny Bansal, Mitsubishi, Flipkart, Blume Ventures, and Project Verte.
The funds raised will be used to expand supply chain and manufacturing capacity, along with doubling research and development in the US, India, and Singapore centres.
GreyOrange was founded by Samay Kohli and Ajay Gupta in 2011, with its headquarter in Singapore and offices in India, Japan, Germany, and the USA. It designs, manufactures, and deploys robotics systems for automation in warehousing, distribution, and fulfilment centres.
Ajay Royan, co-founder, Mithril Capital, said, “As a global investor focused on emerging category leaders, Mithril is proud to partner with the GreyOrange team to advance our shared vision of a universal platform for flexible automation. As online and offline channels converge across a wide range of industries, we are excited to support robotic solutions that thoughtfully bridge the world of bits and the world of atoms, driving better health, safety and efficiency for workers and customers alike.”
GreyOrange’s two flagship products include Butler and Sorter. Butler is an autonomous mobile robot that uses robotic goods-to-person technology to automate inventory storage, replenishment, and order pick-up in fulfilment and distributions centres. Sorter is a flexible and scalable sortation system to automate package handling.
The startup provides warehousing automation solutions to e-commerce companies like Flipkart, Myntra, Pepperfry, and Jabong, along with logistics companies like Delhivery, Aramex, and Ekart Logistics, among others.
GreyOrange last raised $30 million from Tiger Global and Blume Ventures in August 2015, according to Crunchbase.
With the growth of the e-commerce and retail industry in India, the need for automation in the logistics and warehousing is set to increase. The automation startups will play a crucial role in bringing the costs down and increasing the logistical efficiency for e-commerce startups.