Big-name investors back inVia’s warehouse robots with $30 million

Warehouse automation vendor inVia Robotics today announced a $30 million funding round backed by the tech giants Microsoft, Qualcomm, and Hitachi that could help it meet soaring demand for optimization technology in e-commerce fulfillment spurred by the pandemic.

The “series C” round was led by M12—Microsoft’s venture fund—and Qualcomm Ventures LLC, joined by Hitachi Ventures—the corporate venture arm of Hitachi, Ltd.—and inVia’s existing investors, Point 72, Upfront, and Embark. The backing brings Westlake Village, California-based InVia to a total of $59 million, following earlier rounds including a $20 million round in 2018.

InVia plans to use the latest investment in three ways, starting with extending its product’s reach and operational support in North America, the company said. The funding will also be used to drive market expansion to the Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) regions. And thirdly, inVia will align itself with strategic supply chain partners including Qualcomm’s “Robotics RB5 Platform,”  a 5G and AI-enabled robotics platform facilitating accelerated development of robots and drones.

“Global e-commerce adoption is experiencing exponential growth resulting in the need for robust warehouse optimization solutions,” Quinn Li, senior vice president of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and the global head of Qualcomm Ventures, said in a release. “inVia’s AI-powered warehouse automation solutions help improve warehouse throughput and workflow efficiency. We look forward to supporting inVia in accelerating warehouse digitization with AI and 5G  through our investment.”

The company also plans to extend its strategy of making scalable customization accessible to companies of all sizes through approaches like its Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) subscription plan and its inVia Picker robots providing mobile goods-to-person automation.

. @inviarobotics is optimizing warehouse productivity through #mobile robots and #AI. Congrats to the team on a successful Series C, and welcome to the Qualcomm Ventures family! @M12vc @Qualcomm https://t.co/mZCMFEcXvL

— Qualcomm Ventures (@QualcommVenture) July 28, 2021