LOCUS ROBOTICS ANNOUNCES $117 MILLION IN SERIES F FUNDING, BRINGING ITS VALUATION CLOSE TO $2 BILLION
- Strategic round of funding accelerates industry leadership in fast growing warehouse automation space
- New board members Goldman Sachs Asset Management and G2 Venture Partners to support Locus's next phase of growth
WILMINGTON, Mass., Nov. 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Locus Robotics, a leader in autonomous mobile robots (AMR) for fulfillment and distribution warehouses, today announced more than $117 million in Series F funding, led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and G2 Venture Partners. As part of the financing, Mark Midle, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs, and Zach Barasz, Partner, G2 Venture Partners, will join the Locus Board of Directors, bringing their unique industry perspectives and insights to further guide Locus's next stage of growth and global expansion.
"Locus has established itself as an innovative, high-quality market leader for flexible automation in the massive warehouse fulfillment and distribution market," said Mark Midle of Goldman Sachs. "Our investment reflects our view that Locus has the product offering and the operational excellence required to meet and exceed the market challenges posed by today's dynamic economic environment."
"This new round of funding marks an important inflection point for Locus Robotics as we look toward our next stage of growth, and we strategically chose to bring in investors with a wealth of experience in both public and private markets to advise us as we continue our journey," said Rick Faulk, CEO of Locus Robotics. "As the rapid digital transformation of the supply chain continues, warehouses increasingly seek flexible, intelligent robotics automation to improve productivity and grow their operations, despite ongoing labor shortages and exploding order volumes."
The Locus warehouse execution platform disrupts large-scale warehouse fulfillment and distribution with an industry-leading, intelligent, and dynamically scalable robotics-driven solution. Locus delivers 2X-3X productivity by seamlessly coordinating both human labor and AMRs to dramatically improve order fulfillment efficiency and workplace ergonomics, while lowering operational costs.
"Locus is clearly a winner in the flexible warehouse robotics space, and the consistency with which the Locus team has executed is extraordinary," said Zach Barasz of G2 Venture Partners. "We are thrilled to be investors in Locus Robotics, and to partner with the leading warehouse execution company in making global supply chains faster, more cost-effective, and more resilient and sustainable."
With more than 230 sites under contract around the world – some having as many as 500 LocusBots per site – the Locus solution efficiently and seamlessly orchestrates the operation and management of multiple robot form factors, and provides forward-looking, real-time business intelligence, critical for optimizing productivity, proactively managing labor, and managing costs.
"By 2026, 75% of large enterprises in product-centric businesses will have adopted some form of intralogistics robots in their warehouse operations," said Dwight Klappich, Analyst, Gartner. "The lower price of entry and faster time to value of robotics opens the market to more companies that can justify automation … as companies adopt robotics, most organizations will expand and scale their use of robotics within the enterprise, leading to fleet growth."
"As order volumes continue to increase and labor shortages persist worldwide, robotics automation is now a must-have for warehouse operators," said Ash Sharma, Managing Director, Interact Analysis. "Locus is uniquely positioned as a leader in digital transformation in this enormous global market as warehouse operators increasingly focus on scalability, fast ROI, and ease of deployment."
Locus partners with the world's leading warehouse operators to create a powerful synergy that speeds deployment and delivers powerful, actionable business intelligence to optimize warehouse productivity, cost management, and labor management.
"Our 5-year partnership with Locus has enabled DHL to deliver more resilient, flexible, and scalable supply chain solutions to our customers to support faster delivery, improve operational efficiency, and reduce employee workloads," said Sally Miller, CIO of DHL Supply Chain North America. "In that time, Locus's ability to integrate groundbreaking technologies into our operations seamlessly and in a targeted way has been a tremendous success for our customers' supply chains."
In September 2022, Locus reached a major milestone with its industry-first 1 billionth pick. It took Locus 1,542 days to pick its first 100 million units and just 40 days for the last 100 million picks. Locus robots now average more than three million picks per day around the world.
Locus counts more than 90 customers worldwide, including CEVA Logistics, DHL, Material Bank, Boots UK, GEODIS, Ryder, Verst Logistics, Radial, and others, who are consistently doubling and tripling their fulfillment productivity, with near-100% accuracy, using the Locus solution.
Also participating in the Series F round were Stack Capital Group, Next47, Stafford Capital Partners, HESTA, Newton Investment Management North America, Gray's Creek Capital, Silicon Valley Bank, Hercules Capital, Inc., BOND, and Scale Venture Partners.
Locus Robotics' revolutionary, multi-bot solution incorporates powerful and intelligent autonomous mobile robots that operate collaboratively with human workers to dramatically improve piece‐handling, case-handling, and pallet-moving productivity 2X–3X, while optimizing labor and making efficient use of warehouse space. Locus helps retailers, 3PLs, and specialty warehouses efficiently meet and exceed the increasingly complex and demanding requirements of fulfillment environments. Easily integrating into large-scale new and existing warehouse infrastructures without disrupting workflows, Locus transforms productivity without transforming the warehouse.
Headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts, Locus's EMEA presence is centrally located in Amsterdam, with APAC presence located in Singapore.
In 2022 alone, Locus Robotics has won more than 17 industry awards, including being named to the Inc. 500 for the second year in a row and a 2022 IFOY Award for its Autonomous Mobile Robot Solution in the Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV/AMR) category.
Bringing together traditional and alternative investments, Goldman Sachs Asset Management provides clients around the world with a dedicated partnership and focus on long-term performance. As the primary investing area within Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), we deliver investment and advisory services for the world's leading institutions, financial advisors and individuals, drawing from our deeply connected global network and tailored expert insights, across every region and market—overseeing more than $2 trillion in assets under supervision worldwide as of September 30, 2022. Driven by a passion for our clients' performance, we seek to build long-term relationships based on conviction, sustainable outcomes, and shared success over time. Goldman Sachs Asset Management invests in the full spectrum of alternatives, including private equity, growth equity, private credit, real estate and infrastructure. Since 2003 the Growth Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management comprising more than 75 individuals has invested over $13 billion in companies led by visionary founders and CEOs. We focus exclusively on investments in growth stage and technology-driven companies spanning multiple industries, including enterprise technology, financial technology, consumer and healthcare. Follow us on LinkedIn.
G2 Venture Partners is a venture and growth firm focused on emerging technologies driving sustainable transformation across traditional industries. We support entrepreneurs who are unlocking new paths to environmentally and socially responsible economic growth. Learn more at www.g2vp.com and contact the team at [email protected].
*Gartner, Market Guide for Intralogistics Smart Robots, 18 April 2022, Dwight Klappich
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Gartner is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
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