Participated · Equity · Apr 2024

Arris has developed a patented advanced manufacturing technology platform that prioritizes specific stiffness and strength for continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite structures. The company created a new manufacturing category called Additive Molding, a software, materials, and high-volume production approach to producing composite parts at scale. Its technology targets footwear, bicycles, portable electronics, automotive, aerospace, and industrial markets. Founded in 2017 and based in Berkeley, California, Arris intends to use the funds to scale its global operations. Growth actions include continued performance-driven innovation, strategic go-to-market initiatives, and expansion of ingredient brand partnerships with an emphasis on consumer products and aerospace applications. The company raised $34M from a mix of strategic and institutional backers to support those efforts. Arris Composites is a US additive manufacturing startup. The article identifies the company as operating in additive manufacturing but provides no further product or technology details. Arris completed a Series C financing, raising US$88.5 million. The amount raised exceeded the company's estimated target for the round. The report did not disclose participating investors, prior funding rounds, founding year, or operating metrics such as revenue or user numbers. No future plans or use of proceeds were detailed in the article. Arris Composites mass-produces high-strength, lightweight carbon-fiber composite parts using its proprietary Additive Molding manufacturing technology. The process enables advanced carbon-fiber materials to be produced at speeds comparable to plastic-molded products, allowing mass production of complex, highly integrated parts. Its technologies have been used in aerospace, automotive, and consumer products markets. Arris also employs a new generation of recyclable composites and designs products so end-of-life waste can become feedstock for future products. The company provides in-house design collaboration and application engineering tools so customers can design and produce previously impossible products that are stronger and lighter than metals. Arris is based in Berkeley, California, was founded in 2017, and is planning to expand operations following its recent fundraising. Former Autodesk CEO Carl Bass is joining the board as an independent director and has been involved since 2017 as an angel investor, advisor, and research collaborator. Arris Composites develops next-generation continuous carbon fiber composites that can be combined with metals, plastics, wires and other materials for aerospace, automotive and consumer products. The company spent the prior two years in stealth developing these materials. It was founded by manufacturing innovation veterans Ethan Escowitz, Riley Reese and Erick Davidson, who serves as founder and CEO. Arris is based in Berkeley, California. The company will use new funding to expand operations and continue development efforts. Its current financing indicates early-stage capital support for scaling production and R&D.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2022

Fox Robotics develops, manufactures, and sells intelligent autonomous forklift trailer unloaders to reduce forklift operating costs and automate unloading. Led by CEO Peter Anderson-Sprecher and based in Austin, TX, the company’s autonomous forklifts are running around the clock across dozens of customer sites today. DHL Supply Chain was Fox’s first customer and is rapidly deploying the technology across its warehouse network. Fox raised $20M in a round led by BMW I Ventures with participation from several strategic and venture investors. The company intends to use the funds to ramp up production, invest in talent, and expand globally. Concurrent with the closing, industry veterans Till Reuter and David Fuller joined as independent board directors. Fox Robotics builds self-driving forklifts aimed at warehouses and fulfillment centers. The company says its forklifts can increase workplace productivity two to three times and are designed to be low-cost, flexible and easier to integrate than fixed conveyor systems. Its mobile robots require direct human supervision, though one employee can monitor multiple systems at once. Fox has been piloting with unnamed "large logistics companies" since last October. The company raised a $9M Series A led by Menlo Ventures, bringing total funding to date to $13M. It plans to use the new capital to ramp up production and meet current interest.

Participated · Series C · Feb 2022

RightHand Robotics is a Boston-based company that develops pick-and-place systems for warehouse order fulfillment, most recently the RightPick 3. The firm has logged extensive real-world hours and counts international customers such as Japanese wholesaler Paltac and European pharmacy apo.com. Its systems are deployed to automate picking operations for wholesalers and retailers. RightHand has previously raised from investors including GV, Menlo and Playground Global and has amassed around $100 million in funding to date. The company plans to use new capital for hiring, expanding office space and further global scaling. Market tailwinds including COVID-driven logistics demand, supply-chain strain and labor shortages have increased interest in warehouse automation, supporting RightHand’s growth prospects. RightHand Robotics develops a dexterous, high-speed pick-and-place robotic arm and gripper for fulfillment centers. Investors have highlighted the system’s dexterity and speed. The company announced a $23 million Series B and has raised roughly $34 million in total, including an $8 million Series A last year. RightHand says it will use the funding to build out its technical and business teams. The product targets a long-standing robotic picking problem that has become more pronounced with the growth of fulfillment centers and competitive moves like Amazon’s purchase of Kiva Systems. As part of the round, former Kiva CEO Mick Mountz will join RightHand’s board of directors. RightHand Robotics, based in Somerville, MA, has developed RightPick, a combined hardware and software solution for picking individual items. Led by co-founder Leif Jentoft, RightPick pairs a sensorized robot hand with a machine-learning backend. The system integrates with industry-leading robotic arms to handle thousands of different items. The company targets e-commerce order-fulfillment across pharmaceuticals, electronics, grocery, apparel and other industries. RightHand plans to use new capital to expand product development, hiring and marketing. The article reports the company raised $8 million in a Series A round.

Participated · Series B · Jan 2022

San Francisco-based Focal Systems develops AI-powered retail automation solutions built around a network of patented low-cost shelf cameras that digitize the sales floor and backroom hourly to deliver operational efficiencies, availability increases, sales growth, and inventory reduction. Led by CEO Francois Chaubard, the company offers a platform to help retailers automate and optimize operations to maximize cash flows through improved inventory, supply chain, and labor efficiency. Entering 2021 the company had 10,000 cameras deployed, and over the course of the year that number grew 400%, with more than 40,0000 additional cameras deployed to major retailers across the globe. The company already has commitments to deploy an additional 200,000 cameras in 2022. Focal plans to use new funding to continue growth and innovation of its AI-powered retail automation solutions and to expand its global sales and technical teams. Focal Systems provides AI-powered cameras and an advanced analytics stack that functions as a retail store operating system. The company uses fixed shelf cameras and deep-learning computer vision to monitor shelves multiple times per day, increasing on-shelf availability and addressing out-of-stock issues. Its algorithms also aim to eliminate checkout friction and feed into an AI engine that automates decision-making to optimize planograms, labor schedules, associate productivity, and supply-chain processes. Focal works with leading retailers on four continents and positions its solutions as enabling retailers and brands to implement actionable intelligence that drives efficiencies and sales. Following the investment, the company plans to accelerate its product roadmap and scale globally, including joint go-to-market efforts with its investor.

Led · Equity · Dec 2021

Optoro operates a returns technology platform that uses data science and real-time decision-making automation to route returned items to optimal outcomes across resale, restocking, and secondary markets. Its product suite includes an online customer returns portal, warehouse processing, and resale software. Retail and brand customers named in the article include American Eagle, Best Buy, Target, Staples, and IKEA. The company says its solutions decrease inefficiencies, maximize recovery and repurchases, and reduce environmental waste while improving customer experience. In December 2021 Optoro received a $25 million strategic investment led by Zebra Technologies with participation from Volta Circle, eBay, and UPS. Optoro is partnering with Zebra to combine its software with Zebra’s hardware and pursue new end-to-end reverse logistics solutions to accelerate returns processing and cut waste. Optoro provides software and logistics solutions that help retailers — online and brick-and-mortar — more easily resell returned and excess inventory. The company uses data analytics and multi-channel online marketing to determine the best path for each item, aiming to maximize recovery and reduce environmental waste. Its customers include big-box and other legacy retailers facing rising online return rates, which the CEO says are two to three times those of brick-and-mortar sales. The business addresses a large market: returns represented roughly 10% of sales in 2017 (about $351 billion) per the article. Optoro is described as an eight-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based company with a growing base of customers. Financially, the company recently secured new funding and has attracted a mix of strategic and growth investors. Optoro is a Lanham, MD-based platform that helps retailers and manufacturers manage, process and sell returned and excess inventory. Its technology uses comprehensive data analytics and multi-channel online marketing to determine the best path for each item. The platform is designed to maximize recovery and reduce environmental waste. The company will use the $30M Series D proceeds to accelerate adoption of its solution across retailers and brands. In connection with the investment, Optoro and UPS formed a strategic alliance to provide a shop solution for retailers and manufacturers to optimize transportation and disposition of returned and excess inventory. Tobin Moore is co-founder and CEO. Optoro operates a software platform that connects buyers and sellers to manage returned and excess inventory, using data analytics to determine the best path for goods. Its technology processes, sorts and sells products to optimize recovery and reduce waste. Working with some of the largest U.S. retailers, Optoro says clients have increased recovery on such inventory by 50–200 percent. The company highlights industry-wide metrics — over 15% of inventory is returned annually, amounting to roughly $500 billion in the U.S. alone. Founded in 2008 and based in Washington, DC and Maryland, Optoro plans to scale its operations and technology to support the world’s biggest retailers. Financially, the company has raised over $100 million to date, including recent equity and debt financings. Optoro provides a cloud-based platform that manages, prices and routes returned and excess inventory across multiple digital channels, including eBay, Amazon and its consumer site BLINQ.com. The company uses predictive analytics and dynamic pricing to optimize channel allocation and typically increases recovery value for returns and excess by 2x–10x. Optoro’s platform directly reaches more than 500 million customers worldwide and sells simultaneously across over a dozen digital marketplaces. Its business model emphasizes sustainability by remarketing goods, connecting items to recyclers, or donating unsellable products to keep them out of landfills. Optoro has partnered with Trees for the Future to plant a tree for every order on BLINQ.com and has planted over 100,000 trees to date. The company plans to scale major partnerships and expand into new markets using the proceeds from its latest fundraise.