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$30 million funding aims to further democratise automation within global supply chains

inVia Robotics 鈥� the provider of next-generation warehouse automation solutions – has secured a $30 million Series C funding round from M12, Microsoft鈥檚 venture fund, and Qualcomm Ventures LLC. The two firms are also joined by Hitachi Ventures (the strategic corporate venture arm of Hitachi, Ltd.) and inVia Robotics鈥� existing investors (Point 72, Upfront, and Embark). To date, inVia has raised $59 million from strategic funders committed to the company鈥檚 growth.

The latest funding comes on the heels of record revenue and deployment growth in 2020 for inVia, driven by a heightened demand for optimisation technology in eCommerce fulfilment spurred by the pandemic. In the United States alone, eCommerce experienced 44% year-over-year growth鈥撯�搕he most significant shift the industry has seen鈥撯�損rompting immediate and long-term adjustments for fulfilment centres to keep up with record online shopping numbers.

Last year, inVia markedly increased deployments, growing revenue by 600%. 鈥淲e are proud and honoured to have earned the confidence from these industry-leading investors who are equally as committed to the progression of automation within the supply chain as we are,鈥� says Lior Elazary, CEO and Co-Founder of inVia. 鈥淲e have intentionally aligned ourselves in the best interest of our customers and their businesses, finding ways to not only optimise productivity, but also further inVia Robotics鈥� global reach.鈥�

Leveraging early funding rounds that supported the development and innovation of superior technology, inVia鈥檚 latest investment will be used primarily to extend their proven product鈥檚 reach and operational support in North America. The funding will also be used to drive market expansion to APAC and EMEA as well as align inVia with strategic supply chain partners to open new channels and deliver end-to-end logistics solutions.

Most notably, inVia anticipates using the Qualcomm庐 Robotics RB5 Platform鈥撯�搕he world鈥檚 first 5G and AI-enabled robotics platform facilitating accelerated development of innovative, power-efficient, high computing robots and drones. 鈥淕lobal e-commerce adoption is experiencing exponential growth resulting in the need for robust warehouse optimisation solutions,鈥� said Quinn Li, Senior Vice President of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and Global Head of Qualcomm Ventures. 鈥渋nVia鈥檚 AI-powered warehouse automation solutions help improve warehouse throughput and workflow efficiency.

We look forward to supporting inVia in accelerating warehouse digitisation with AI and 5G through our investment.鈥� inVia has become an industry leader with its robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) model, which has a distinct approach to fulfilment and inventory management. Through RaaS, the company offers an easy entry point for companies of any size to commence a scalable path to autonomous mobile robot fleets that meet their business needs.

Furthermore, inVia makes automation adoption manageable via a subscription-based payment system where businesses pay according to the productivity levels they desire, versus needing to lease and maintain equipment. 鈥渋nVia鈥檚 integrated solution鈥撯�搘ith software and AI at the core鈥撯�揺nables warehouse managers to take advantage of operational and cost efficiencies that have historically only been available to large enterprises,鈥� said M12 principal James Wu. 鈥漀ow, inVia鈥檚 pre-built integrations with warehouse management systems are making scalable customisation accessible to companies of all sizes.鈥�

With the addition of Hitachi as an investor, they bring extensive experience in industrial automation across other verticals as inVia scales. The Hitachi brand is synonymous with leading-edge technology that connects and amplifies the advances in AI-powered software and automation hardware. They share inVia鈥檚 vision of optimising operations in every warehouse by maximising efficiencies across all processes through digitisation.

inVia鈥檚 platform programmatically digitises every logistics workflow, using AI to continually optimise machines and people. It includes inVia Logic intelligent software that orchestrates the most efficient movement of goods across a warehouse using proprietary algorithms to efficiently assign and balance tasks. It employs inVia Picker robots, the mobile goods-to-person automation with the highest throughput per person in the industry. The complete solution can be seamlessly integrated into existing operations or new facilities. It delivers to customers a flexible and scalable system with an unprecedented return on investment (ROI).