Chinese logistics robot developer Geek+ secures $14m

Existing investors Banyan Capital and Shanghai Volcanic Stone Capital also participated in the round, the company told 36kr. The two firms co-led Geek+’s RMB50 million Series A round last year. The new capital will be used to support product development, grow the support team and research new applications for the company’s technology.

Founded in 2015, Geek+ develops automated systems for moving merchandise around large warehouses, similar to Kiva Systems, a US-based start-up bought by Amazon in 2012. Its robots speed up order fulfillment by bringing entire shelves to packaging stations rather than trying to find individual products, which can be done more efficiently by human operators.

Users of the system include Alibaba Group’s e-commerce platform Tmall and retail giant Suning, along with companies in the pharmaceutical and manufacturing sectors. The company says around a dozen companies have adopted its technology so far, with 300 robots working in a total 50,000 square feet of warehouse space. It expects demand to continue to grow as rising labor costs and high turnover in China’s warehouse sector lead smaller national and local players to seek efficiency improvements.

Vertex, the VC arm of Singapore-based Temasek Holdings, invests in emerging technology companies worldwide. The firm received a $600 million investment from Temasek in 2015 to support start-ups in China, the US and Israel. Its recent investments include a $100 million Series C round for Chinese education app Xueba led by China Merchants Capital and Grand Fight Investment, and a Series C round of undisclosed size for bike rental service Mobike, led by Hillhouse Capital, Warburg Pincus and Tencent Holdings.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Greater China
• Support services
• Technology
• Early-stage
• China
• Logistics
• Vertex Management (II)
• Banyan Capital