Locus Robotics raises another $50M to scale its AMRs

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Just seven months after it closed a $150 million Series E round, Locus Robotics secured another $50 million to scale its autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) around the world. The Wilmington, Mass.-based company has now raised about $305 million since it was founded in 2014.

The additional $50 million in funding comes from existing investor Tiger Global Management. Tiger co-led the Series E funding round in February 2021, which valued Locus Robotics at $1 billion. Locus also raised a $40 million Series D in June 2020, that in part helped it accelerate expansion into Europe and other markets.

“At a time of increasing volumes and ongoing labor shortages, this new round of funding underscores how critical flexible, scalable, intelligent robotics automation has become to the warehouse and the supply chain,” said Rick Faulk, CEO of Locus Robotics. “Locus is uniquely positioned to drive digital transformation in this enormous global market.”

Locus’ LocusBot AMRs have completed more than half a billion picks. It took Locus just 94 days to go from 400 million picks to the 500 million mark.

LocusBots navigate autonomously within a warehouse to locate and transport pick items to associates. LocusBots can be flexibly deployed to support a range of picking strategies, helping to reduce time spent on routine or physically demanding tasks, reducing manual errors and increasing productivity for customers.

“We are impressed by Locus Robotics’ proven technology, flexible design, and customer obsession,” said Griffin Schroeder, Partner, Tiger Global. “As their warehouse partners face rapidly growing e-commerce volumes, rising labor costs, and increasingly demanding customers, Locus will be ready to provide solutions that work.”

Two AMR companies were acquired in July 2021. Fetch Robotics was acquired by Zebra Technologies for $290 million, while industrial robotics leader ABB acquired ASTI Mobile Robotics for an undisclosed amount.

Faulk joined The Robot Report Podcast in February after closing the Series E round. He discussed the company’s unicorn status, pending improvements to its AMRs, COVID-19’s impact on e-commerce, and why Locus Robotics should be a publicly-traded company. You can listen to the interview below, starting at the 3:49 mark.