XYZ has become the latest warehouse robotics company to benefit from a surge of interest in the sector.
The Massachusetts start-up, which provides automated tools to help with picking and packing, has netted nearly $20 million from Source Code Capital, Gaorong Capital and Morningside Capital.
The company plans to spend the money on research and development, expanding its business, operational capabilities and wider deployment.
The tool, which XYZ says can be implemented in 15 minutes, is able to differentiate between different SKUs and pick the correct one to supply it to a human employee.
XYZ is the latest beneficiary of a wave of investment into “cobots”, which are robots designed to be deployed alongside human employees rather than replace them. While robots lack the dexterity of humans and cannot easily take over the actual picking and packing process without significant investment, they can take over routine, labour-intensive tasks.
Typically, they are available on a subscription model, meaning that retailers don’t spend significant CapEx on acquiring the hardware and are able to get access to upgrades as they become available.
Retailers such as Superdry are among recent converts to the technology, while Zalando has been using GreyOrange robots in its operations since 2019.
