en.Wedoany.com Reported - Smart Robotics has secured €10 million in Series A funding, planning to roll out its AI-driven industrial robot picking technology across European countries and solidify its position in the rapidly growing warehouse automation market.
This funding round was led by Rotterdamse Havendraken, with participation from Innovation Industries and the Dutch family office Ernij Next.
Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Best, the Netherlands, Smart Robotics specializes in developing AI-based industrial robot pick-and-place systems for intralogistics operations. The company states it has deployed over 120 systems across 15 countries and 5 industries, completing over 1 billion successful picks in real warehouse environments.
The company claims this milestone has enabled it to build one of Europe's largest real-world operational datasets for industrial robot picking applications, laying the foundation for its AI control platform.
Smart Robotics says the new funds will be used to accelerate European expansion, strengthen commercial operations, and further develop its proprietary AI software layer. This software layer is designed to improve the robots' ability to handle warehouse operations with high SKU variability.
As e-commerce transaction volumes rise, labor shortages intensify, and pressure on fulfillment efficiency increases, logistics operators continue to increase investment in warehouse automation. According to Interact Analysis data cited by the company, logistics automation maturity remains far lower than manufacturing automation, with global logistics automation penetration estimated at around 20%.
Heico Sandee, Founder and Co-CEO/CTO of Smart Robotics, stated: "Our strength lies in our proprietary AI software, over a decade of real-world deployment experience in warehouse environments, and a team combining expertise in AI engineering, robot integration, and logistics operations. What truly sets us apart is the large-scale real-world data we have accumulated, enabling us to continuously improve our AI beyond traditional automation systems. This puts us in a strong position to help shape the next wave of automation in the logistics sector."
The company's systems are designed to automate logistics tasks from single-item picking to palletizing, using AI-driven software to increase robot adaptability in environments with high product variation and changing warehouse conditions. Smart Robotics states its industrial robot systems currently achieve 99.5% availability and can handle up to 1,000 picks per hour, while continuously generating operational data to incrementally improve system performance.
Felix Schmidt, Co-CEO of Smart Robotics, said: "This funding round, combined with strong support from our partners and investors, provides us with additional momentum to further expand our market position and ultimately establish ourselves as the category leader in embodied AI for intralogistics robotics."
The company also recently announced partnerships, such as with automation supplier ProLog Automation, seeking to expand into larger-scale warehouse automation projects and a broader customer base.
Robin Slakhorst of Rotterdamse Havendraken commented: "Smart Robotics combines deep technical expertise with a clear understanding of real logistics operations. Their ability to leverage large-scale operational data for continuous performance improvement provides a strong and defensible position in this rapidly evolving market."
This investment reflects the industry expectation that industrial robot picking systems will become an increasingly important component of warehouse automation over the next decade, as logistics companies strive to reduce manual handling and increase throughput and operational consistency.
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