Fetch Robotics, a US-based provider of robotics for the logistics sector, closed a $25m series B round yesterday that inlcuded telecommunications firm SoftBank and media company O’Reilly.
Sway Ventures led the round and fellow venture capital firm Shasta Ventures also participated. SoftBank contributed through US subsidiary SB Group, while O’Reilly invested through corporate venturing unit O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures.
Founded in 2015, Fetch Robotics develops and manufactures autonomous mobile robots powered by a cloud-based software system for use in the logistics and light industrial sectors.
The robots can be used for tasks such as materials transport and automated data collection. The capital will go to meeting demand for its products, and Brian Nugent from Sway Ventures will join Fetch’s board of directors.
Fetch has now raised $48m in total, having received $3m from O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and Shasta Ventures when it launched in February 2015. Both investors returned for a $20m series A round led by SB Group four months later.
Melonee Wise, CEO of Fetch Robotics, said: “We are seeing first-hand that the growth in e-commerce and an expanding on-demand economy are contributing to unprecedented labour challenges faced by the $5 trillion global logistics industry.
“With labour in short supply, our customers are still able to quickly realise significant, measurable productivity increases by deploying our autonomous mobile robots.”