Seems we’re in the middle of drone-delivery summer. A few weeks back, Gather AI snapped up competitor Ware following an executive shake-up, and soon after, San Jose-based B Garage brought in a $20 million Series A.
Today, Swiss startup Verity announced that it’s adding $11 million in funding. The addition is an extension of a $32 million Series B announced back in March, bringing the round’s full raise up to $43 million. The company is no doubt riding high atop a category-wide buzz, helped along by an Ikea partnership that brought 100 of its drones to 16 of the furniture giant’s European warehouses.
Verity notes that its drones have been deployed in 13 countries thus far, but otherwise hasn’t offered many specifics in terms of deployment metrics. The addressable market is huge of course. When you factor in third-party logistics firms, retailers and manufacturers, you’ve got countless shelves that need to be inventoried.
A number of companies, including Simbe and Bossa Nova, have focused on front-of-store shelf scanning. The size, scope and height of warehouse shelves, however, present a unique set of challenges. London-based Dexory offers a fairly unique solution. The wheeled robot sports an extending scaffolding system to hit those hard to reach shelves.
In a lot of ways, drones are uniquely qualified for the job. They’re small, nimble and can hit even the highest shelves. It’s a logical tool for the job, so it tracks that so many startups have flooded the nascent space that also includes Y Combinator-backed Corvus. The secret sauce, so to speak, are systems with limited connectivity that allow drones to fly indoors and avoid collisions.
Verity’s latest round was led by A.P. Moller Holding and notably features Qualcomm Ventures.
“The supply chain of the future is autonomous and automated,” says Qualcomm Ventures’ Boaz Peer. “Verity’s self-flying drone technology and advanced warehouse inventory analytics are helping transform supply chains by enabling end-to-end, real-time visibility. We’re excited to invest in Verity as it scales its operations internationally.”
Certainly Qualcomm has a personal interest in the world of supply chains and logistics, which have been clouded by uncertainty for the last several years. Labor shortages have also fueled interest in automation across the industry, and few aspects of that world are a better candidate to be automated than inventory.
A number of startups I’ve spoken to in the drone inventory world suggest that scaling has been an issue, with a backlog of potential clients. Accordingly, Verity says this round will go toward scaling and go to market for its solution.