Ambi Robotics, a California-based start-up developing supply chain automation hardware, has closed a $26 million series A funding round.

The company claimed that the funding, led by Tiger Global Management with participation from Bow Capital, Vertex Ventures US, and The House Fund, will enable it to expand its team, operations, product, and customer support offerings.

Supply chain automation is a growing feature of global distribution, with the US experiencing a 22% year-over-year increase in packages shipped annually, according to a recent report by Pitney Bowes.

Ambi Robotics, formerly known as Ambidextrous, was cofounded in 2018 by five roboticists at University of California, Berkeley.

The pandemic shifted consumer behaviour from in-store to online, especially with the closing of brick and mortar stores, according to Jim Liefer, CEO.

AmbiSort, its robotics system, can sort boxes, polybags, and envelopes from chutes, totes, and bins into mail sacks and totes over 50% faster than human workers, Ambi Robotics claims.

The robots make adjustments based on item shape, size, and material, and can be configured to fit existing processes and workflows without damaging things like bags or shelves.

Ambi Robotics has a strong pipeline of new customer deployments and existing customer expansions, Leifer said, with hundreds of warehouse associates across the US working alongside Ambi Robotics’ systems.

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