It is raining venture dollars on robotic startups working on retail automation.
Lexington-based Berkshire Grey raised $263 million in Series B funding to fund global expansion, acquisitions, and hiring. SoftBank, Khosla Ventures, New Enterprise Associates and Canaan invested in the round.
The company's backers also include the former General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt.
Berkshire Grey, founded by the former chief technology officer of iRobot Corp., Tom Wagner, launched in December 2018 after operating in stealth mode for five years.
Founded in 2013, soon after Amazon bought North Reading-based Kiva Systems for $775 million, Berkshire Grey claims that it has built a "first-of-its-kind" robotic automation system for the global retail and logistics industry. The company sells machines like bin-carrying robots and a conveyer belt with robotic arms that can grab items.
Berkshire Grey's machines automate warehouse and distribution operations by automatically picking, packing and sorting individual items using artificial intelligence, computer vision, machine learning and advanced sensing.
The company declined to comment on hiring targets or potential acquisitions.
"We are not making additional statements beyond what is in the release. We are heads down with the business, but the funding is a great validation for our technology and our focus on solving customer challenges," a company spokesperson told BostInno.
It recently hired the former CEO of CIMCON Software Craig Hattabaugh as vice president and general manager.
