Autonomous Mobile Robot Provider OTTO Motors Raises $29m

Autonomous mobile robot (AMR) provider OTTO Motors announced they had successfully raised $29m in a Series C funding round which was led by Kensington Capital Partners and had participation from new investors BMO Capital Partners, Export Development Canada (EDC), and from existing investors iNovia Capital and RRE Ventures.

The company said the funding will be used to increase the number of team members from the current 260 people across different departments, expand OTTO’s global network of delivery partners, increase its suite of products and capabilities, and allow the business to meet growing demands of customers and potential customers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Matthew Rendall, CEO and co-founder of OTTO Motors parent company Clearpath Robotics said: Mobile robots are no longer a luxury in the workplace; they are a necessity”.

OTTO Motors supply businesses with automated robots that reduce the risk of labour shortages, reduce wasted floor space, can be standardised across multiple facilities or warehouses, and increase the safety of people on the site.

Coronavirus has led to shortages in staff with warehouse and logistics companies speeding up their transformation to automated and robotic solutions giving OTTO Motors an opportunity to increase their market share and customer list.

OTTO Motors AMRs all come with lidar sensors that can scan, monitor, and interact with the client’s floor space so it’s configured to optimal routes and efficiency.  

They currently offer three different models – OTTO 100, OTTO 750, and OTTO 1500 – each of which is different in product size, are different weights, can carry different payloads, and have different movement options so businesses can have the right product(s) that match their business or available floor space.

According to ABI research, there are estimated to be more than 4 million installed robots across 50,000 warehouses globally, a significant increase from close to 4,000 warehouses in 2018 and this estimate could now be higher with the impact of COVID-19.

Rendall said AMR’s will improve health and safety giving OTTO Motors an opportunity to add value: “In a post-COVID world, AMRs enhance worker safety and bring resiliency to supply chains. As enterprises adapt, AMR demand will accelerate globally. This investment will enable us to grow to meet the evolving needs of the factories and warehouses of the future anywhere in the world.”

Since launching in 2015, OTTO Motors has added a number of global businesses to its client roster including GE, Toyota, Nestle, and Berry Global and claims its had interest from businesses operating within the food, beverage, and medical device fabrication industries due to Coronavirus.

The AMR provider also has partnerships with companies including Boston Dynamics whom they collaborated with to develop an automated box-picking and pallet-building solution as seen in the picture below.

Rick Nathan, senior managing director at Kensington explained the reason for their investment by saying: “Clearpath and its OTTO autonomous mobile robots have been on our radar for some time. We see strong trends favouring the acceleration of industrial automation generally, with Clearpath positioned very strongly to benefit from this rapidly growing sector. OTTO’s technology leads the market for core infrastructure for the factory of the future. It is becoming increasingly important for customers across all manufacturing and a compelling opportunity for our investors.”

The latest Series C funding round brings OTTO Motors total raised capital to $83m.