OTTO Motors, a division of Clearpath Robotics, today announced it has closed $29 million (USD) in Series C funding for the continued expansion of its autonomous mobile robot (AMR) platform. The investment, which follows years of rapid growth, was led by Kensington Private Equity Fund with participation from BMO Capital Partners, Export Development Canada (EDC), and previous investors iNovia Capital and RRE Ventures.
With the additional funding, OTTO Motors has plans to expand its global network of partners reach beyond North America with its line of primarily warehouse and logistics AMRs. OTTO has been in business since 2015 and was created to commercialize Clearpath's AMR technology for the manufacturing, warehousing and logistics markets.
The series C funding of $29M brings the total investment for OTTO Motors to $83M (Crunchbase).
“Mobile robots are no longer a luxury in the workplace; they are a necessity,” said Clearpath CEO and co-founder Matthew Rendall. “In a post-COVID world, AMRs enhance worker safety and bring resiliency to supply chains. As enterprises adapt, AMR demand will accelerate globally. This investment will enable us to grow to meet the evolving needs of the factories and warehouses of the future anywhere in the world.”
OTTO Motors lined up in a warehouse (image courtesy of OTTO Motors)
“Clearpath and its OTTO autonomous mobile robots have been on our radar for some time. We see strong trends favoring the acceleration of industrial automation generally, with Clearpath positioned very strongly to benefit from this rapidly growing sector,” said Rick Nathan, senior managing director at Kensington. “OTTO’s technology leads the market for core infrastructure for the factory of the future. It is becoming increasingly important for customers across all manufacturing and a compelling opportunity for our investors.”
OTTO has helped Berry Global Group, a Fortune 500 manufacturer, meet increasing customer demand despite labor shortages at a plant in Kentucky. Berry Global’s fleet of 19 OTTO AMRs operate 24x7 supplying cases to and from automated production machines.
“Our mission to ensure a safe and productive work environment, along with the challenges of persistent labor constraints, has led us to increase investments in creative automation solutions,” said Scott Spaeth, director of corporate automation at Berry Global. “The OTTO vehicles address those challenges and deliver improved operations reliability, while enhancing the working environment for our employees.”
Here is the complete press release.
