Floatic raises $3.8M for AMRs to tackle e-commerce picking

By Mike Oitzman | June 12, 2024

Korea-based Floatic, a warehouse robotic solutions provider, raised $3.8 million in a pre-Series A bridge round. The investment was led by Capstone Partners and included Quantum Ventures Korea, Bluepoint, BNK Venture Investment, and BSK Investment.

Floatic has raised a total of $8 million since it was founded in 2021. Floatic attracted seed investments from South Korean tech giant Naver Corp.’s D2SF and Kakao Corp.’s Kakao Ventures shortly after it was founded. It then closed a $2.5 million pre-Series A round in 2022.

The company plans to use the funding to extend its research and development efforts and enhance its product as it prepares for commercialization this year.

Floatic develops and offers Floware, a robotic system for e-commerce picking. It offers a complete solution from integration to deployment and operation in less than six weeks, with minimum infrastructure and financial requirements, according to the company. Floatic claims its approach increases productivity up to 3.5 times compared to manual picking.

Floware consists of autonomous mobile robots (AMR) designed specifically for warehouses and a management platform tailored to optimizing warehouse workflow. The solution includes features such as the ‘Picking Guide’ and a modular software algorithm that enables flexible operation and real-time management.

“Warehouses have diverse variables daily, making it difficult to provide the necessary solutions without a proper understanding of the site,” said Chan Lee, CEO of Floatic. “We have been focusing on the user voices and developed the product based on this from the very beginning, which makes a crucial difference in the solution.”

The company has been conducting on-site field tests with 3PL companies and local warehouses, and collaborating with leading logistics partners in Korea such as POSCO DX and LogisALL. It intends to make a full commercialization in the second half of this year.

“We will continue to invest in developing and creating the feasible robotic solutions needed to establish the most efficient warehouse environment, thoroughly focusing on the market from a user-centric perspective,” Lee added. “This fundraising will be a powerful engine to achieve this goal, and we are grateful to our investors for supporting us.”