While warehouse automation today is limited to a few functions, improvements in artificial intelligence promise to change that. This week, Nimble announced the successful closure of a $106 million Series C funding round, bringing its valuation to $1 billion. FedEx Corp. co-led the funding with existing shareholder Cedar Pine LLC and made a commercial agreement with Nimble.
“Today’s warehouse automation systems require integrators to stitch together fragmented point solutions from dozens of equipment and software vendors, resulting in overly complex, inefficient, and expensive systems that are difficult to integrate, operate, and maintain,” stated Simon Kalouche, founder and CEO of Nimble.
“Nimble directly addresses this gap with turnkey autonomous fulfillment centers powered by our intelligent general-purpose warehouse robots—the first to reliably and cost-effectively handle all core fulfillment tasks,” he added. “Our end-to-end fulfillment system replaces over a dozen individual pieces of equipment and software, streamlining installation, operations, maintenance, and scalability while eliminating as much as 70% of the cost.”
Founded in 2017, Nimble’s services include robotic fulfillment and transportation. Paired with the Nimble Cloud Logistics Platform, The San Francisco-based company asserted that its system will result in warehouses that are simpler, more reliable, and easier to install and scale.
Nimble turns to AI, the cloud for general-purpose robots
More than 90% of warehouses today still operate manually with minimal or no robotics, according to Meteor Space. The limited intelligence of robots has restricted their utility primarily to storage and retrieval, said Nimble.
The company said its general-purpose robot is capable of storage and retrieval, picking, packing, and sorting.
“By collecting a large-scale data set, training state-of-the-art AI models, and engineering custom mobile manipulator robot hardware, Nimble has unlocked a new generation of fully autonomous turnkey fulfillment centers that are simple, reliable, and more cost-efficient,” said Fei-Fei Li, AI pioneer and Nimble board director.
Nimble’s fulfillment centers are controlled by its Cloud Logistics Platform, which orchestrates fleets of its general-purpose robots. The platform provides omni-channel brands with a unified warehouse management system (WMS), order management system (OMS), transport management system (TMS), inventory management system (IMS), and returns management system (RMS).
The platform not only manages and optimizes logistics operations, but it can also deliver real-time visibility and control across the entire supply chain, said Nimble. The company said its technology is being used across apparel, health and beauty, footwear, electronics, consumer packaged goods, general merchandise, pharmaceuticals, and more.
FedEx Fulfillment looks to scale automation
As part of its strategic alliance, FedEx has entered into a commercial agreement to use Nimble’s technology and fully autonomous third-party logistics (3PL) model. The companies said the investment demonstrates FedEx’s confidence in the commercial potential of Nimble’s technology.
“Our strategic alliance and financial investment with Nimble expands our footprint in the e-commerce space, helping to further scale our FedEx Fulfillment offering across North America,” said Scott Temple, president of FedEx Supply Chain. “Nimble’s cutting-edge AI robotics and autonomous fulfillment systems will help FedEx streamline operations and unlock new opportunities for our customers.”
Nimble said it plans to deploy the new capital to scale robot manufacturing and system deployments, as well as in further research and development into autonomous logistics. Last month, the company launched a robotic fulfillment center in New Jersey.
“We are excited to continue supporting Nimble’s growth and transformation of the fulfillment industry,” added Stephen Weiss, managing director of Cedar Pine LLC and a Nimble board member. “The company’s fully autonomous turnkey fulfillment centers will generate unique operational and economic efficiencies for FedEx and all of Nimble’s customers.”