Photoneo, the innovative smart automation powerhouse, has announced an investment of $21m from AI Capital, IPM Group, Earlybird, Venture to Future Fund, and Credo Ventures as well as all investors who participated in previous investment rounds. The newly raised capital will accelerate the 3D Sensor business and enable expansion of its fully automated fulfilment solutions for warehouses and dark stores called BRIGHTPICK.
Online shopping is booming. e-commerce, q-commerce, and e-grocery are all experiencing immense pressure, fuelled by rising customer demands and dynamic customer behaviour. These changes have been dramatic over the past two years. Additionally, a shrinking labour force and ever-increasing labour costs translate to sector demand for automated fulfilment solutions. These solutions will help e-commerce companies keep their customer commitments and keep up in the hyper-competitive landscape.
“We identified a gap in the order fulfilment sector. We combined our unique technologies to develop a first-of-its-kind end-to-end solution for fully automated fulfilment centres,” said Jan Zizka, co-founder and CEO of Photoneo. “The potential of this next-gen warehouse automation technology is immense as it is highly flexible and scalable, maximising throughput with minimum effort. It helps optimise processes, save space, and increase efficiency by 3 to 5 times compared to manual labour.”
Branching out into the logistics sector, Photoneo also announced its new Business Unit – BRIGHTPICK: a first and only fully-automated fulfilment solution for warehouses and grocers to support huge throughput via smart AMRs and AI powered robotic picking. Its modular structure can be tailored for a range of usage from Nano to Central Fulfilment Centres.
Photoneo’s futuristic vision as well as BRIGHTPICK’s successful pilot integrations have attracted a large number of investors who decided to support the company’s bold strategy through one of the largest investments into an automation startup in Europe, achieving a total of $21m.
“We are happy that our disruptive technologies and ability to spot market potential at the right time, and forecast its future developments, earned the trust of our investors, convincing them that Photoneo is primed to lead the next-generation automation of orders fulfilment,” says Jan Zizka.
The investment round was led by IPM Group, a global asset manager focusing on technology companies, together with Venture to Future Fund, Earlybird, Credo Ventures, and investors who participated in earlier rounds as well.
“Photoneo’s work and achievements are truly impressive. We believe in the company’s power to enhance logistics and transform the automation of e-commerce processes with its groundbreaking and much-needed solutions,” says Marian Bocek, Managing Partner at IPM Group. “Photoneo is already a well-established leader of smart automation solutions powered by original machine vision technology and artificial intelligence and supporting the company at this stage means helping them embrace the future of automation completely and on all fronts.”
With its relentless R&D activities and innovative spirit, Photoneo says it sets the standard in machine vision and intelligent automation solutions. Its worldwide acclaimed 3D sensing technology, proven best-in-class systems for vision-guided robotics, and novel end-to-end solutions for fully automated fulfilment centres make next-gen automation available and affordable for all customers who want to boost their processes with smart automation.
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